The Reunion
by sandys18
Summary: Felicity can't find a date to her high school reunion
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters**

A/N : I thought I try my hand at writing for a couple I'm really falling in love with. Sorry for any mistake you may find.

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**The Reunion**

**Chapter 1**

"So are you ready for tomorrow?" Felicity eagerly ran and asked John Diggle the moment he walked in to what Felicity would sometime like to call _their own personal bat cave_.

"Ready for what?" Oliver who had been exercising for the past thirty minutes finally stopped and grabbed his towel.

"I have this high school reunion tomorrow and I asked Diggle to be my date…" Felicity explained her eyes still looking to Diggle to say _'yes'_, "So you're coming right?" Felicity's hopeful eyes flickered.

Diggle's eyes blinked, they moved left and right as though he had some bad news to say. "Felicity, I… I"

Diggle looked somewhat relived when Oliver cut him off, "What? You're going with Diggle? Why didn't you ask me?" Oliver looked utterly dismayed when he stood next to Felicity.

"As hard as it would be to believe to see me showing up to the reunion with a guy like Diggle, my old friends would know that something wasn't quite right, if I show up with playboy billionaire Oliver Queen," Felicity explained, "And anyway I didn't think you would like to be mingling with my geeky friends… Would you?" Felicity put her hands on her hips and her stare passed from Oliver to Diggle, who she thought was hiding a smile.

"You'll never know now…" Oliver smirked, wiping some sweat off of his face with the towel in his hands.

"Well I don't need to… because Diggle here is going to come with me, right?" Felicity twirled around completely towards Diggle, her purple skirt twirling with her.

"Well… the thing is Felicity… I… I..." Diggle mumbled.

"No! Don't say you can't come!" Felicity begged.

Oliver turned around smiling, and he went back to continue with his workout.

"I'm sorry Felicity… It's Carly's son… I sort of promised him I'll take him to this father-son thing…" Diggle looked like he was scared to look at Felicity's face.

"Oh I was so hoping it wasn't something like that… I guess then you have to go?" She sighed loudly.

Diggle nodded, "Sorry, Felicity… but I'll make it up to you,"

"You better," Felicity nodded still pouting.

Diggle patted her head and smiled back at her childish expression.

Felicity settled on her chair in front of the computer, "What am I going to do now? ... I can almost hear them… Felicity, you didn't bring a date? Are you still dating your computers? You're still working in the IT department? I have three kids and I'm the owner of my own company!" She kept mumbling to herself, clicking and opening and closing the same window on her computer.

"Ehm… Felicity…" Diggle came around and stood in front of her, behind her computer table.

"What?" She didn't mean to sound mean but she couldn't help it.

Diggle didn't seemed to have mind, he simply chuckled, "May be you can ask… ehm you know who?" He glanced at Oliver.

Felicity followed his gesture and looked back at Oliver, 'Oliver Queen', 'Play Boy Billionaire Oliver Queen,' aka 'The hood' a very shirtless hood. Felicity secretly gulped looking at the way he fought the helpless punching bag in front of him. "I don't think it's a good idea," She quickly turned back to her computers.

"Why not? Just ask him and see…" Diggle raised his brows.

"And give him a chance to see me grovel for his help? No way!" She was compelled to look back at Oliver, but she decided she would be better off staring at the little icons on her desktop.

"It's your choice, Felicity," Diggle smiled and started to go through some dodgy contracts he had been looking into the last few days, to help The Hood catch his latest target.

Except for the sound of Oliver training, the foundry was quiet. The more Felicity stared at the computer screen trying to think of ways to find a date to her high school reunion, the more she heard Oliver moving around the training mat.

She stood up feeling defeated. Deciding to leave her ego aside she tentatively walked up to Oliver.

"Eh… Oliver… Ollie..," She stood in front of him, her fingers playing with the bow on her blouse.

He seemed too busy to look up at her, but she could swear she saw a smile hiding in his face somewhere.

"Hmmm" Oliver hurriedly moved to his left and took one of his batons into his hand.

Felicity followed him and stood behind him, "Oliver, you're a guy…"

"Oh… so you've noticed?" He couldn't stop his smile from taking over his usually brooding face this time.

Her eyes rolled, "Oh.. I've noticed," She had mindlessly babbled again and she didn't realize it until she heard Diggle's muted snort from a distance.

Oliver turned around to her quickly, his smile had grown wider.

"No I mean…" She didn't have a cover story, if she did say something she knew it would sound dumber than the infamous cover up stories Oliver had told her.

"You mean, what Felicity?" It was one of those rare times when Oliver had tried to drill her on the meaning of her babbles. In fact it may have been the only time, which led Felicity to believe that Oliver's new found playful attitude towards her had all to do with her not asking him to go to the reunion before asking Diggle.

"I mean… would you be my date for my high school reunion?" She got the words out as quickly as possible, wincing and looking away from Oliver's arrogant face.

"I'm a busy guy Felicity… Other than being the hood, I need to keep up appearances as the play boy Oliver… and I thought you didn't want the billionaire playboy Oliver as your date?" Oliver twirled the stick in his hand, making Felicity blink every time it completed a round.

"Did I really say that?" She acted all naïve, "You know me… I always say things without thinking…"

"But…" He couldn't say anything more he was cut off by Felicity.

"May be you can use this opportunity too… you can make an appearance in your playboy-self at my reunion," Felicity tried to sound convincing.

"I don't think showing up to a high school reunion with my IT girl would count as being my playboy-self… but I'll think about it," he returned to his training, with a very evident smile on his face, a smile of victory.

Felicity could feel her cheeks burn in anger, "On second thought, I don't want to trouble you… I think I'll hire someone from one of those escort services… my friend Patrice at work… she's not my friend really, but anyway… she has been bugging me to use this place to hire a guy to be my date… I wasn't really sure about it… but… I think I'll try that… Thanks anyway Oliver…" She started to make her way back to her computers, secretly hoping Oliver to come behind her and tell her she shouldn't do any such thing because he will come with her.

"Felicity wait…" He called after her.

She stopped, feeling like she had won some huge battle. She winked at Diggle that had been watching their conversation very intently.

"Felicity…" He turned her around from her shoulder.

"Yes, Oliver?" She batted her eyelids ever so innocently.

"If you're looking for an escort service just for a date... I know a good place… I'll text you the number, later tonight…" He sounded very sincere.

"Oh… Ok..." Felicity turned around confused and like a drone she went back to her chair. She couldn't understand where she went wrong, he was supposed to oppose the whole thing not text her a damn number.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** I've never ever gotten so many reviews, favourites and alerts for a single chapter for any of my other stories. Thanks for each and everyone of them. Hearing them makes me excited to write. I took lot of ideas and inspiration from the reviews and put my own twist, I just hope this chapter doesn't disappoint you.

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**Chapter 2**

"You're a strong, smart, beautiful, and an independent woman…. You don't need some man to take you to this stupid reunion! And sure as hell you don't need to hire any escorts!" Felicity chanted, standing in front of her mirror, in her pajamas.

A sudden buzzing sound made her jolt and turnabout. The sound was coming from her phone, hidden somewhere underneath the pillows on her bed.

Felicity plunged into her bed and dug out her phone that was still buzzing. She checked the screen and saw that she had received a message from Oliver. Dreading what the message may entail, she clicked the '_OK_' button on her phone to open it.

It read, _'Secret Liaisons' _followed by two phone numbers.

"I hate you Oliver Queen!" She cried, throwing her phone to some corner on her bed.

True, he had told her he'll be sending her a number '_later tonight'_, yet she wasn't really expecting him to follow through on his words. As a matter of fact she had secretly expected him to send something else. Though what she was expecting from him she had no clue, but _this 'Secret Liaisons' _thing_, _she was sure, wasn't what she had been hoping.

Oliver was trying to call her out on her bluff, to see whether she, 'Felicity Smoak' would follow through on her words or not. The mere thought made her mad, beyond mad actually. _How could he_, she thought, _how could he just send this number; especially when she was just about to make up her mind to go by herself. _

Resting her head on her pillow she puffed out a very angry breath.

Then she found her sneaky, treacherous eyes to be glancing back at her phone that was almost about to fall off from the edge of her bed.

"No Felicity… don't…" She said to herself. It was as if her phone was tempting her to call the number, daring her to take it or unless it would fall and break.

"No… don't give in," She muttered, but failed to control her hand that reached out for the phone and dialed one of the numbers.

"Thanks for calling Secret Liaisons, how may I help you?" A very calm female voice said on the other end of the line and Felicity hastily hung up.

She couldn't help but think about how Oliver may have gotten this number, though it didn't surprise her, she was certainly curious.

Then after staring at the phone a second longer, taking courage, thinking it would be some kind of sweet vengeance for whatever stunt Oliver was trying to pull she called the number again.

"Thanks for calling Secret Liaisons, how may I help you?" The woman repeated her greeting.

"I need a date for my high school reunion, my friend sort of backed out on me last minute so I had no choice but to call this number… I'm not the kind of girl to call an escort service normally… not that there's anything wrong with that… I'm not judging you… or anyone, I'm no prude… and some people say it's one of the oldest professions in the world. So…" She said in one breath.

"I'm sorry ma'am can you be a little bit more specific about what you require from us?" The operator said sweetly as ever.

"Ehm… I need a date for tomorrow night…" Felicity answered, her tone somewhat befuddled.

"That can be arranged, miss? ..." The operator was waiting for her to give her name.

Felicity hesitated, she wasn't sure whether she was supposed to give her real name, "Megan, my name is Megan," thus she gave her middle name instead.

"Ok Miss Megan, First I would like to know if you have a type," The woman on the other side asked.

Felicity wasn't expecting a Q&A round, she was expecting to say that she needed a date and hang up. "A type?" She felt a slight sweat built up on her forehead. She felt like she was a teenager in her friend's basement playing truth or dare, and like always she was failing to answer the very twisted questions.

"Since it sounds like it's your first time, let's start from the beginning… Male or Female?" The operator asked effortlessly, no doubt she had taken thousands of calls like this.

"Definitely Male!" Felicity stated at once.

Her answer seemed to have made the operator smile, "Any other preferences Miss Megan?"

Felicity's forehead wrinkled and eyes blinked rapidly as she pondered how to go about answering the question, "Preferences? No… not really… well… may be blonde… hmmm and blue eyes…" She mused for a moment, "yeah! Definitely blue eyes… chiseled jaws, bit of stubble won't hurt, eh… should look good in a suit… about six feet tall? Nothing much really…."

"Ok then…" There was a long pause on the other side after those words, and Felicity was almost about to hang up discouraged by the silence, but the operator talked again, "Alright Miss Megan, tell me the time and the location you want to meet your date and I will arrange everything,"

She didn't want to meet 'her date' at her apartment. Mainly because of her sixty-five year old, nosy neighbor 'Mrs. Perkins'. The woman was already suspicious as it was about Diggle and Oliver coming over to meet her in the most inappropriate of times, so if she saw another good looking guy show up at her door step, Felicity feared the woman may think she had started her own escort service. "West Glen High, 6.30pm sharp!" Felicity answered very confidently.

"We'll text you if there's anything else Miss Megan. Thanks for calling, good night," said the operator.

"Ok, Thanks…" Felicity ended the call.

"Felicity Megan Smoak, what did you just do? Did you just call up an escort service to get yourself a date to your high school reunion?" She shouted.

Making grumbling noises, she turned on her stomach, and closed her eyes, "I'm such a pathetic loser!" She shrieked to her pillow.

When Felicity opened her eyes again, she realized it was already morning.

It was very rare for Felicity to not to be excited to face a new day. Even if it was a Saturday or a Sunday, she was up early. Even when she was a little girl she loved to wake up early, because a new day, she used to say always brought new hope. Yet today, this Saturday was different, she didn't even feel like getting off from her bed.

But with a little bit of self-motivation and a lot of coffee Felicity somehow managed to get dressed and drive off into the foundry.

She slowly opened the door to The Hood's secret hang out. First she popped her head in and looked around. She then flew towards her very inviting chair, which was standing in its lonesomeness in front of the computers.

"Felicity!" Oliver's voice called her.

Her heart started to beat faster, her knees suddenly felt weak. It wasn't the first time this had happened to her when Oliver had called her name. Case in point, every time he popped in to her office at Queen consolidated, unannounced.

However, this time the reasons for her very wobbly knees seemed somewhat different. "Oh Oliver… I didn't know you were here, and Where's Dig?" She acted unbothered and turned around to him, fully expecting him to ask about the status of her date.

"I guess Digg's getting ready to go to the father-son camping trip…" Oliver handed her a folder, with a mug of a blonde haired man attached to it with a paper clip. "I want you to dig all the information you can about this guy!" Oliver was straightaway on to business, yesterday's spirit completely gone.

Felicity was heavily disappointed he didn't bring up the whole 'Secret Liaisons' issue, but she had business to take care of, so she took the file into her hand and sat in front of the computer. "Who is this guy?"

"Some guy…" Oliver mumbled and took the seat next to Felicity.

"Some guy?" she couldn't help but feel that Oliver was trying to hide something from her. "Why would 'the hood' be interested in just 'some guy'?"

"Eh… it's … it's Laurel, she…" He uttered nervously.

"Oh it's Oliver Queen, who wants to find information, not the hood… So… what did the poor guy do? Asked your beautiful Laurel out on a date?" She tried to make a joke out of it, but she feared it may have come out little bit viciously than she had wanted.

"Eh… yeah… something like that…" He had a weird smile about his face.

Felicity looked at him, trying to read him, read his smile, but as always Oliver Queen was shrouded with a whole lot of mystery.

Thus Felicity gave up trying to understand him, and she then with a sigh opened the file.

She saw the name, "Jean Aleixandre," on the top of it, with his birth date and birth place written next to it. Some other not so important information, like his star sign and 'actor' jotted underneath special skills cum talents.

She typed the name on the computer and started to search for information.

Not even a minute had passed, Oliver seemed very eager, "Found anything yet?"

"Patience grass hopper, let the master do her work," Felicity kept her eyes glued to the screen.

Oliver's fingers tapped on the computer desk, "Anything yet Miss Megan?" He seemed to have whispered.

"What? What did you just say?" Felicity was so engrossed on her search she wasn't sure if she had heard right.

"I asked... did you find anything yet Felicity?" He looked somewhat amused for some reason.

"I must be hearing things…" Felicity shook her head and turned her attention back to the search.

In a few minutes she found some new facts on 'Jean' other than what had been on the file, "Ah here it is… Other than acting in a few x rated movies, he doesn't seem to have any criminal records…. Hmm not even a traffic ticket…" Felicity clicked something and a picture of Jean Aleixandre popped up, and he was in his boxers, only in his boxers, very tight boxers at that. Felicity hastily minimized the window and grinned like the geek she was. "But, his current profession is not listed anywhere," She hoped Oliver hadn't noticed her flushed cheeks.

"Is that so," Oliver seemed to be thoroughly entertained, his worried frown gone.

Felicity was confused by the rare sight, she pushed her glasses up, and stared at him, "What does that smile mean?"

"I just can't see why Laurel would go for a guy like that?" He stood up from his chair, obviously trying to cover up the meaning behind his smile.

"He is kind of cute… I can see the attraction…" Felicity confessed staring at the picture of the man on the folder lying next to the keyboard, "And Laurel seemed to have a type… or maybe she's still hung up on you…" She didn't mean to say it out loud, but she had.

"Really?" Oliver sounded like he was hiding a laugh, when he should be all brooding at the mention of his relationship or rather past relationship with Laurel.

Felicity chose to disregard his confusing expression, "I mean look at him! He kind of looks like you, and when I say kind of… he could be your long lost brother…" She turned to examine Oliver, "The blonde hair… the blue eyes… the chisel jaw..." As she began to list Oliver's characteristics, she could see Oliver's hidden smile resurface bit by bit, "The sexy stubble… and he's almost exactly the same height as…" She paused, feeling a tad déjà vu.

Oliver maximized the window that had the picture of 'Jean Alexandre', the one in which he was _just in his boxers, in his very tight boxers_, "And let's not forget the fact that he's _definitely male,_" Oliver turned around, a so unlike him smirk adorning his lips.

He walked over towards his training mat and like always being the thoughtless man he was, without thinking about how it was affecting poor Felicity, took his shirt off. "And you're right she definitely seem to have a type…"

"He knows?" She said to herself. She had never felt so blonde in her life; all that hair dye she had been using seemed to have finally started to mess with her brain cells, for how could she had not notice what Oliver was playing at. Then it hit her hard, "Oh my God he knows!" She involuntarily stood up from her chair and looked up at Oliver. She felt like one of her greatest secret had been revealed. Not about calling the escort service, of course, but something else, and something she didn't even know she had hidden seemed to have been revealed.

Felicity stomped towards Oliver, "So..." She stood tall, her hands on her hips.

"So?" Oliver was hanging upside down on his exercise bars.

"So… you know?" She was trying to hide her anger, but knew her face was too red to do that.

"What? What do I know?" He acted all naïve, and shrugged his shoulders, but his frown told otherwise as he continued with his strange upside down crunches.

"Everything I told that annoyingly nice woman from the escort service?" She spat out so quickly she wasn't sure if she had said something coherent.

"May be…" Oliver stopped his work out, and there she spotted that perplexing smile again.

"How much do you know?" She barked at him.

His guilty, weasel like face told her that he knew everything.

"You called them and asked what I said to them? Just because you are jealous I asked Diggle and not you?" Felicity went closer.

"First of all I'm not jealous!" Oliver jumped down from the bars, and stood in front of Felicity. Very close to her. Too close to her in fact. "Second of all, I called them only to get the portfolio of the guy they'll be sending to you… I was just looking out for you..." He confessed.

Felicity was so mad that for once words were not flowing out of her like they normally did. "Then how do you know… what… I … my…"

"Your preferences?" Oliver raised an eyebrow.

"How?" That's all Felicity managed to say. She felt as though he was sucking out all her air, just by being so close to her.

Then as if there were not close enough, Oliver moved his face closer, "I may or may have not bugged your…"

"You bugged my phone?" She yelled, trying not to stare too long at his well-toned body.

"No…No! I would never do that to you Felicity!" He looked somewhat offended, "Just your apartment…" he added bowing his head down.

"You what? You bugged my apartment? That's even worse!" Felicity felt invaded, she was the one who normally helped put bugs on people's homes, but she had never thought about how it would feel to be on the other side of it and she didn't even want to think about what else he may have heard. "Were you afraid that I'll blab your secret to someone?"

"Felicity, it was for your protection… and Digg approved it," Oliver explained, taking a step back, finally giving Felicity some room to breathe.

"So does 'The hood' and his sidekick now approve of me going to my reunion with this guy?" Felicity fumed.

"I guess," He climbed back on to his exercise bars as if he didn't wish to continue the conversation and it only made Felicity madder.

"Good!" She turned around, "Now that I know the hood approves, maybe I can now fall in love and marry the guy,"

"If that's what you want…" Oliver was coolly exercising.

"May be I'll have a gazillion little blonde babies running around here in a few more years…" Felicity walked back to her chair and collapsed into it.

"May be you should," Oliver grunted as he did one more crunch.

"May be I will!" Felicity wasn't sure but she thought she heard Oliver scoff behind her. Opting not to turn around to glare back and try and burn him with her eyes, she closed all the windows that had search results about 'Jean Aleixandre' who she was now more than ever was very determined to meet at her reunion.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **I'm so grateful for all the reviews, favourites and alerts. So happy you liked the last one. **Sorry I made a jerk out of Oliver and don't worry he'll get his due. And I like the slow burn too!**Thanks for all the wonderful words of encouragement again. :D I'm so so excited about writing this story because of them.

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**Chapter 3**

Felicity hummed, drumming her fingers on the door of the taxicab she was sitting in, checking her phone for a message every few seconds.

She ducked down once more, as she had done every time, when she had sensed someone walk in or out of the parking lot of her high school. She could see the cab driver stare at her from the rare view mirror with a strange look about his face.

Finally, a message came_, "Miss Megan, we are sorry to inform you due to heavy traffic in the city, Jean Aleixandre will be late, and we hope to give you some form of concession from your fee for it. We sincerely apologize for any distress caused,"_ Felicity grunted at the overtly polite message that was sent, aiming to make her calm.

The message, in truth did nothing but further aggravate her. She had been hiding out in the car for more than half an hour, waiting for the 'Jean' guy to come along, and it was now that '_Secret Liaisons'_ had decided to reply to her. And a concession, she thought would not be enough for whatever the hell she may have to face, going to her high school reunion without a date.

Felicity frowned at her phone, she should have known, not to use any place Oliver had recommended, however classy the place may be she felt should have just talked to Patrice and used her contacts.

"Felicity Smoak? Is that you?" Someone peeped from the window next to her, and Felicity jumped back startled.

"The one and only!" Felicity took a deep breath and composed herself. Inwardly, she cursed herself for not being on the lookout for any of her old schoolmates. She cursed herself for arriving in a very noticeable big yellow cab, as she had drove her own car on to a lamp post right in front of her apartment few hours ago. In her defense, she was quite livid with the whole world when she was driving home from the Verdant.

Felicity noticed the familiar, blonde hair, green eyes, and the perfectly groomed set of teeth staring at her. It took her only a few seconds to recognize who she was.

"Ashley!" Felicity greeted hiding her annoyance. She put on a fake grin and lowered the window on her side.

"You changed your hair!" Ashley smiled, sticking her head inside the car, and getting a very wolfy grin from the cab driver as his eyes fell up on Ashley's cleavage. "So were you going to hide in there the whole time?"

"No… No… I was just waiting for my date… he's running a little late…" Felicity explained, passing a disgusted look at the driver.

"So, you can wait for him inside… Come, you're missing out on all the fun!" The former cheerleader suggested. 'Ashley' was sort of a minion to the Queen Bee of West Glen High. The minions, who were called 'plastics' behind their backs, would always bend over backwards to fulfill their Queen's wishes.

"Eh… I guess," Felicity timidly got off the car, and pulled out some money out of her purse, "Keep the change!" She shouted at the cab driver as Ashley dragged her away.

She followed the 'Plastic', feeling very suspicious over why she was being nice towards her.

It seemed being around the hood had made Felicity scrutinize everything and anything around her.

At the entrance, both Felicity and Ashley were given badges with a photograph of them in their teens printed on it.

Felicity looked at her teenage self on the badge; dark hair put into a messy pony tail, her not so stylish glasses hanging from her ears and a smile, which showed off her braced teeth. She felt like the nerd she was again, as she pinned it on her gown and entered the high school gym, so many bad memories of being the school mascot rushing in to her head.

"Jake Patterson?" With that, Ashley disappeared into the crowd, following some guy, abandoning her like a true 'Plastic'.

Felicity checked her phone again, for any news, but _nada_.

She looked around feeling lost amidst the crowd, wishing she had brought her tablet with her, so that she wouldn't have to feel so alone.

Then her phone rang in her hand. She eagerly flipped it over and saw that it was none other than 'Oliver Queen'. She let it ring, wanting to teach him a lesson for messing with her, but by the fifth buzz, she was worried. For all she knew, it may be an emergency, The Hood may be stuck inside a building somewhere, or he might be dying on a rooftop.

So she caved and answered the phone.

"Felicity, so how is everything going?" Oliver asked.

Felicity moved through the crowd and into a secluded corner, her blood boiling the whole while, "Doesn't the hood have any 'hoody things' to do? Other than checking up on how his IT girl's date went?" She whispered in to the mouth piece of her phone.

"It's a slow night," Oliver sounded jaded.

"And here I thought that my boss was actually worried about me, but it turns out he called me because he was bored!" Felicity snarled.

"Still mad at me? Or is your date not what you hoped he would be?" He blurred out.

Felicity scoffed into her phone, "He should show up first, in order for me to be disappointed at him, doesn't he?" Her hand went up to fix her glasses, only to realize she wasn't wearing any.

"Oh?" Oliver mumbled.

"You must be really happy aren't you Oliver? Now you don't have to worry about 'some guy', kidnapping your IT girl?" Her hand that was holding her purse went to her cheek as if she had made some grave mistake, "No! What am I saying? You weren't worried at all! You were all ready to walk me down the aisle and get me married off to the guy!" Felicity bellowed.

"Felicity I…" Oliver didn't get a chance to finish, Felicity had turned her phone off.

Felicity looked around the room, for a way to vent out her anger, and then lo and behold, her eyes caught the sight of the little bar set up on the side.

The champagne on ice called out to her.

She put her phone inside her purse and tucked it under her arm. Then, she strolled towards the bar very impatiently. Her high heels clicking loudly as she pushed, whoever that was on her way.

It was bliss, she thought when she grabbed a glass of champagne and let the cold liquid glide down her throat.

She finished one glass and took another, and leaned into a wall nearby, watching her fellow school mates enjoy the party.

Fifteen minutes and another champagne glass later, she had completely given up on 'Jean what's his name'.

Felicity, out of the blue heard someone say something.

"Just like old times isn't it? The cool ones are way over there, and we are way over here,"

Felicity turned around and saw a beautiful brunette standing beside her. She looked down at the badge on the girls' very revealing bright red dress and saw a picture of a geek. "Bernice?" Felicity may have not liked the 'Plastics' that much, but 'Bernice' was her arch nemesis, the girl that made her high school days absolutely miserable. Whatever the club Felicity tired out for, Bernice was the president of it. Not that she was better than Felicity, it was just Bernice knew how to get to her teachers, and her mom being quite a good looker and being even better at baking cookies and cakes for the teachers, didn't hurt her course either.

"Felicity, we meet again," Her enemy beamed her eyes narrowing somewhat wickedly, "You dyed your hair?"

"Uhm… yeah… you look… different too, beautiful, I almost didn't recognize you," Felicity couldn't help but wonder how many plastic surgeries Bernice may have done, especially in the chest area to make Bernice look like she did. If she had remembered properly the girl was flat as they came.

"Yeah this is what a lot of money can do," She didn't seemed to be even slightly uncomfortable talking about it, "When you're married to a very high powered attorney with his own firm, It's nothing. If you want I can recommend few surgeons to you… and they'll take care of that nose of yours," Bernice tapped on the tip of Felicity's nose with her index finger.

Felicity touched her nose, trying to figure out what was so wrong with it. "So, where is your high powered attorney husband?"

"He's around here somewhere…" Bernice skimmed through the crowd looking for her husband. Failing to find the fella she turned back to Felicity, "So, Felicity… what have you been up to… married? Children? Or still doing your little thing with computers?" Bernice was surely looking for ways to put Felicity down.

"Actually, I have a great, well-paying job, very fulfilling!" Felicity's mind inevitably went to her nightly adventures with The Hood and John Diggle and it naturally made her smirk, "And I'm waiting for my fiancé… he's stuck in traffic," Felicity looked down at the empty champagne glass in her hand and wished it would just magically fill, so that she could tolerate the woman in front of her.

"I'm sure you are," Bernice smiled.

Felicity simply glared, and Bernice glared back, her crooked smile plastered on her face.

Suddenly the music stopped and everyone began to run out of the gym, "What's going on?"

Bernice looked as clueless as Felicity, "Let's go and find out," She drew Felicity from her arm and went towards the door.

As they got closer, Felicity could hear some sort of mechanical wings flapping, a large engine humming, as of that of a helicopter.

She stood behind the crowd gathered outside, hoping she wasn't just stupidly standing to be attacked and to be held hostage by some kind of a terrorist group.

She looked upon the blinding light coming from the flying machine circling above them. Her hair flew about as the air around got stirred up by the approaching vehicle and she was trying hard to keep the long slit on her dress from completely blowing open and uncovering both her legs.

The crowd spread about as the chopper landed on the school yard. Bernice's eye Felicity could see was wide open and excited. It made Felicity smile, thinking about what Bernice's face would like if she saw half of the things Felicity had seen, being the IT girl to a certain vigilante.

The propeller of the chopper was slowing down on its spins.

Hearing its door open, Felicity turned her eyes back to the chopper.

A well-built guy, most probably in a suit jumped out. The light behind him only allowing them to see his silhouette.

"Talk about an entrance…" Bernice uttered, and Felicity could hardly make out her words as the propeller still hadn't come to a standstill.

The man was looking around, and Felicity felt her stomach flip, gazing at the dark figure of the man,

"Why do I have a very bad feeling about this?" she trailed off, a very familiar fear taking over her.

The man took a step forward, came out of the shadows, "Hello? I'm looking for my girlfriend, Felicity Smoak?"

Felicity's intuition was right; she should be afraid, very afraid, for it was 'Oliver Queen' who had popped up pretending to be her boyfriend at her high school reunion, in a chopper nonetheless.

As people around her whispered her name and cleared the path for her to go to him, she gulped, looking at his smirk.

The champagne she just drank was threatening to come up, "I really shouldn't have drunk that much on an empty stomach," She murmured, feeling all eyes on her.

The propeller had stopped spinning, the buzzing sound had stopped.

"Is that Oliver Queen?" Bernice said in Felicity's ear.

Grinning uneasily, Felicity marched forward and she could see Oliver too walk towards her.

"That's' Oliver Queen!" She could hear the crowd's whispers circling around her.

"_walk, walk, breathe, breath", _Felicity's inside voice recited as she went to, apparently her 'boyfriend' Oliver Queen .

They met half way.

She stood in front of him keeping only a foot of leeway, "Oliver?" She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do or say.

His hand slowly snaked around her back. "Honey, I'm sorry for being late," Oliver was diving in to capture her cheeks, or may be her lips.

Felicity didn't know what came over her, but she hoisted up her right hand and slapped Oliver across his face. The crowd seemed to have gone dead quiet. The sound of the slap still echoed in her ears, and her palm still tingled as a result. It may have hurt her hand more than it did him, but when she looked up at him she could see him holding his cheek from one hand, staring at her quite shocked and hurt.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Sorry for not updating sooner, I was working on my other fanfic and it was a bit of a busy weekend. Thanks for all the amazing reviews, so happy all of you are enjoying my little story. I hope you like this.

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**Chapter 4**

"Honey, I'm sorry for being late," Oliver's hand went around Felicity's bear back and he was gently pulling her towards him.

She could see him leaning towards her. His parted lips she saw move closer to her. What he was planning to do, where he was planning to let his lips land, or what he was trying to accomplish by pulling such a stunt Felicity couldn't understand. It felt all too surreal to her.

She thought her brain was going to blow up and her heart was going burst. It was a feeling she wasn't quite used to, and it scared her, the after math scared her.

Wanting to make sense out of things, it seemed her brain had suddenly changed gears, helping her replace her fears with anger. Then all she knew was that she wasn't about to let Oliver Queen, who not so long ago had made a joke out of her dateless dilemma, lay a kiss on her.

Then there it was; a slap across his pretty face.

The sound of her palm hitting his face surprised even her.

As she watched him stare back stumped, she could just see the headlines, '_Oliver Queen gets slapped by a geeky IT girl!'_ and she could just imagine millions of hate tweets she would probably be getting from crazy stalker girls who had been dreaming to one day meet and fall in love with the millionaire.

"Felicity…" His broken voice called her.

She turned her back to him.

"What was all that about?" Felicity overheard one of the enthusiastic spectators ask as she begun to make her way through them.

"I think… she's still… mad at me for being late…" Oliver made up an excuse, and for once Felicity thought it sounded better than his usual _'_BS cover up stories'_._

Felicity began to run faster. She felt her purse drop, but she just kept running.

She ran until she heard no chatter, until she saw no shadow of a soul, she ran until she found herself under the bleachers of the West Glen High football field. It was one of those spots she used to run and hide whenever things got too rough, too overwhelming when she was a teenager.

It was actually the exact same spot she had hidden under, after a very embarrassing encounter with the ever so handsome high school quarter back, 'Brandon Cooper'. An encounter which involved a swimming accident, the quarter back thinking Felicity needed mouth to mouth resuscitation when she actually didn't, and a very bewildered Felicity leaning forward and kissing him thinking he was going to kiss her, when he actually wasn't.

She could still hear the same laugher she heard that day in her head and she could clearly remember how taken back Brandon Cooper was when she had kissed him.

As Felicity paced about under the bleachers, holding in a sob, trying to make sure nothing ruined the thin layer of makeup she had worn, her eyes caught a few familiar little markings on a wooden post, which read, '_Brendon and Felicity'_ circled with a heart.

She didn't realize until then that 'The Brandon Cooper Incident' had been one of the many reasons that had made her not want to come to the reunion dateless.

"Felicity… why did you…" Oliver had come after her, his tone somewhat disheveled.

She almost turned around, "What were you expecting me to say? '_You had me at hello_?'" Determined not to look at him, she traced her finger on the barely there heart that she had carved long ago, half of it ruined by later generations of nerds and broken hearted girls that had etched their name with their crushes' alongside it.

Her resolute to not to look at Oliver seemed to have riled him up. His voice seemed rather irritated, "No, but… I just thought… I was being…"

"A jerk?" She turned about to see how her words may have affected him.

He was standing there couple of yards away, holding on to her burgundy colored purse that she had matched perfectly to her dress. His face though hidden in the shadows, from the little that Felicity could make out of him, she knew he had that same frustrated face he had on, when she once overrode the security code of the foundry lock, to stop him from going after another one his targets.

"No! Helpful… I thought I was being helpful…" His feet moved back and forth on the same place as if he was unsure whether he should run away from the confrontation with his IT girl or whether he should just face it head on.

"Helpful would've been if you had offered to be my date, when I asked you to come, without '_ooh... I'm Oliver Queen I have things to do'_ but this is just…" She cringed, remembering his grand descend from the helicopter.

"I thought you would like to show me off as your millionaire boyfriend to your friends rather than having some escort show up here late?" He had decided to take two more steps towards her.

"Well… you thought wrong!" Felicity took two steps of her own towards Oliver.

He looked too cross to utter a word.

A part of her had understood his intentions, a part of her, 'the mistakenly Brandon Cooper kissing geek' part of her, was scared; although it was quite a different part of her that had prevailed and struck Oliver on the face a few minutes ago.

"I'm going back inside," Felicity sighed, upset.

She hoped Oliver would use the second of silence that followed to try and apologize or say something that sounded like one.

"Fine! Go then!" He had grunted instead.

Felicity grabbed the purse from his hands and passed a stare that contested his, "I _am_ going!" She sparred back with her words and muttering a few more in her head, she headed back to the gym.

The gym once again was buzzing with music. On the surface it seemed they all had forgotten Oliver's dramatic entry and had gone back to dancing, but the more than a few curious faces that turned around to stare at Felicity when she opened the door, proved that they still haven't given up on gossiping about Felicity Smoak's love life.

She tossed her purse on to a table, set in some corner away from all the prying eyes, and took a seat.

She eyed the bar, craving another drink, but deciding she had already had one too many, rested back on to her chair.

Felicity then spotted him; Oliver, sitting on a chair in the opposite corner, his baby blue eyes glaring at her, looking as if he had million things to say.

Her anxious left foot tapped madly upon the gym floor as she busied herself by looking at the roof, the crowd, the bar, merely to avoid Oliver. Yet, however much she tried, every other second her eyes landed upon him and she was sure his had never left her.

Someone walked in front of Felicity blocking her view of him.

However, when her view cleared up again he was gone.

Automatically, Felicity was up, combing through the crowd for him. She knew she shouldn't be and she shouldn't care but for some reason she cared.

She walked in to the middle of the dance floor ignoring all the looks that she was getting. Yet, he was nowhere to be seen.

Felicity took a couple of steps backwards and bumped into someone, "Sorry!" She turned around and found a rather excited woman, dancing with some man.

The woman smiled and whispered to the man, "That's Oliver Queen's girlfriend,"

As the man looked at her, head to foot, Felicity put on the most bogus of smiles and spun back around.

Her breath hitched at what she then saw. It was Oliver. He was coming her way. The speed in which he walked through the crowd towards her, made her heart race.

His balled up fists, his very gritty and furious look that said, _'I'm going to put an arrow on you' _scared the living daylights out of her. She thought Oliver aka The Hood was seeking revenge on what she did to him in front of her peers.

"_It was just a slap, He won't hit a girl… It was just a slap, He won't hit me… It was just a slap, I'm just crazy," _She reminded herself the many reasons why she shouldn't be scared of an Oliver Queen that that looked like a stampeding bull.

In a matter of seconds he was standing just a foot or so away from her.

The last thing she remembered seeing before her eyes naturally shut fearing the worst was, his hand being lifted and pulled back ready to throw a punch.

However, instead of getting his fist on her face, she heard a large thud behind her.

The crowd grew quiet after a few surprised yells and some '_what the hells'_.

Felicity quickly opened her eyes and glanced behind.

Oliver was fixing his coat, standing over a man who was on the floor unconscious.

She went to where Oliver was standing, "Is that…" she carefully examined the blonde man lying on the floor. Except for the broken nose, the battered man held an uncanny resemblance to Jean Aleixandre.

"How many times do I have to tell you? Stop following my girlfriend! Leave her alone or I will call the cops!" Oliver threatened and turned to the crowd, "It's alright everyone, it's a small stalker situation… nothing much… you can continue…" Oliver gestured the band to start playing.

Felicity then realized why Oliver had punched the innocent man. He was simply trying to keep their cover, keep their story spinning.

"Is he alright? I'm a nurse," a woman came forward offering her help.

"It's alright… We'll take care of him," Oliver bent down and pulled Jean up.

The woman stood back, looking quite worried, staring at Jean's bleeding nose.

Oliver put Jean's lifeless hand over his shoulder. "Please continue…" he requested the crowd again.

The band members hesitantly began to play a slow song, and the crowd began to sway to the music, their eyes still glued to all the drama.

Felicity moved closer to Oliver's ear, "Very subtle Mr. Queen… very subtle," Whatever the reason may be for punching Jean Aleixandre was, Felicity thought Oliver could have handled it differently. But in truth this is Oliver Queen, whose methods of getting a little info from someone, only consisted of 'instilling fear of God upon them'

"It did the job didn't it?" Oliver started to walk out with Jean hanging on to him. "They still believe we're a couple, don't they?" Oliver peeped behind to look back at all the people in the room who were still staring at their backs.

"Yeah… but may be the most disgruntle couple ever," Felicity followed him shaking her head disapproving everything that had taken place that night. "You should write a book! '_How to cause a scene' by Oliver Queen_…. Chapter one, '_Make an entrance from a Helicopter_'…. Chapter two, '_Break a guy's nose in the middle of a dance floor_', and…" She was talking more animatedly, Oliver's little feat seemed to have given her a rush of adrenaline.

"And Chapter three, '_Slap the guy that came for your help'?_" Oliver added passing a sharp glare at Felicity.

She scoffed, "You deserved it!"

He hauled Jean over his shoulder, seeing as they were now out of the gym and walking in the hallway. "I guess…" He mumbled, his hand unconsciously moving to the side of his face where she had hit him.

It was then Felicity noticed the four red finger marks on his face, "Oh no! Did I do that?" She was instantly worried, her little tiff with him completely forgotten.

Her hand instinctively reached out to touch his face.

Oliver didn't let her, he moved away. "No need to worry, I've had worse!"

True, Oliver Queen had had worse, Felicity had seen it herself. She had seen him shot and seen him almost bleed to death, seen him with broken bones, and his scars that were tattooed all over him said nothing but how bad things had been for him. Yet still Felicity felt bad whenever her eyes caught the red mark on his face which was all her doing.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: **Thanks for reading, reviewing, putting alerts and favorites to the story. I loved writing this chapter. Hope you like it too.

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**Chapter 5**

"Excuse me… have you seen Felicity? Felicity Smoak?" Oliver went from one person to another, but no one knew where she was. She had suddenly disappeared.

The last he saw her was, when they were on their way back to the gym after putting Jean Aleixandre to a cab, and some friend of hers dragged her away to show her something, as she put it 'something very important'.

Like an idiot he had stayed behind and now he can't find her.

Oliver ran around frantically, in search of her.

He looked under the bleachers, even in the ladies rooms, getting yelled at by few women in the process.

He kept asking everyone he saw at the gym, yet neither she nor her mysterious friend was anywhere to be found. The only thing he found was Felicity's burgundy colored purse lying on some table.

Oliver feared the worst. He feared that she may be facing the dire consequences of being the vigilante's personal IT girl.

He walked back outside hoping to find Felicity just wandering about, getting a bit of fresh air.

"You're looking for Felicity?" A short, curly haired man walked up to him. His steps unsteady, his face swollen.

Oliver felt as though he could finally breathe, "Yes! Have you seen her?"

"No… But I think I know where she might be..." The man looked to be somewhat drunk, he swayed back and forth.

"Where? Where is she?" Oliver almost shook the man by his shoulders.

"I saw what happened…" His strong bourbon breath told Oliver he indeed was drunk.

"What happened? What did you see?" Oliver felt his guts squirm as his imagination ran wild, presenting him with all the worst possible scenarios.

The man leaned to the closest wall he could find, so that he wouldn't fall. "Bernice… that bitch! … She was showing off her husband to Felicity…" he seemed teed off, his fist balled, his bloodshot dopy eyes became redder.

It seemed the man was talking in riddles. If Oliver wasn't so desperate to find Felicity, he would've just knocked this guy out, so that he would wake up something more than just a hangover, "What? Who's Bernice?"

"You call yourself her boyfriend but you don't know who Bernice is?" The man laughed crookedly, "She is her arch nemesis… like Lex luther to Superman…" The man was going in and out of consciousness while he talked.

Oliver patted his cheeks. "Hey! Wake up!"

"Like Lex luther to Superman…" The drunkard repeated, coming back around.

"So where is she? Did Bernice do something to her?" He wished he was dressed as the hood, just so he could wring the information out of him faster.

"Bernice was showing off her husband… Brandon Cooper…" The man was either shaking his head in disapproval or he was just plain drunk. "And don't tell me you don't know the 'Brandon Cooper Incident'?"

"The Brandon Cooper Incident?" Oliver wasn't sure whether these were some made up babbles by an intoxicated man, or whether there really had been such an incident.

"Ah… the Brandon Cooper the great… Felicity had a huge crush on him…. The whole school knew it…" The curly haired man smiled as if he was reminiscing on the memories of his school days. "The Brandon Cooper incident happened in our senior year…"

Oliver didn't have to know the whole story, he could understand what may have happened, what Bernice may have tried to do, how Bernice may have used her own husband to put Felicity down, "So where's she now?" He roared.

"If she's not under the bleachers, She'd probably be in the computer lab in the other building… that's where she went when she was sad… that's where I saw her crying, after she lost the national quiz competition. She was crying hiding behind her monitor… That's where nerds like me stood behind their computers and stared not knowing how to make her stop crying…. Because you're afraid that she will find out how you feel about her," The man began to sniffle. It seemed he may have had a crush of his own on Felicity.

Oliver pitied the man and at the same time there was a strange feeling that lingered in his chest that told him to punch him as he had done to Jean Aleixandre. However to the drunken man's fortune, Oliver had managed to utter a 'thank you' and run off to the other building looking for the computer lab.

Few minutes later he found a half opened door, with a blue light coming out from it.

"Felicity, are you in here?" He peeked inside, one foot inside the room, one foot out.

"No!" Yelled Felicity.

He found her in the middle of the computer lab staring at a monitor.

Oliver walked in slowly, "Felicity, Are you alright? Some guy told me…" He paused seeing the almost empty bottle of champagne lying next to the keyboard, "Did you drink this whole thing by yourself?"

Felicity tilted her head and looked at him, "Not all of it… I think I spilled a little bit on the floor," She put her index finger and thumb together to show how little she may have spilt.

He didn't need to ask whether she was drunk, he could clearly see it. He didn't have to ask whether she'd been crying, he could clearly see the dried out stream of tears, her mascara ruined, "So what are you doing in here?"

"Trying to break into the FBI database… I've done it a million times… but never drunk… I thought I'd challenge myself," Moving her face closer to the keyboard, she typed something using just one finger; one stroke every one second.

"Don't you think it's dangerous? You could get caught?" Oliver looked at the monitor, the blue screen with white letters and symbols made no sense to him.

"Nah… I told you, I've done it a million times…" Then putting her index finger on her lips, she stood up to meet Oliver face to face, "And shh… don't tell anyone… I work with the hood… and that's even more dangerous," She whispered and plunged back to her chair somewhat involuntarily.

While her right hand pressed another key on the keyboard she took the champagne bottle to her left hand and tipped it over until the last drop hit the back of her throat.

Disappointed that the bottle was now empty she put it back on the table with a groan.

Oliver didn't know whether to laugh, or whether to shake her and ask her to snap out of it.

"Come let's go home," He dragged her hand which was now seeking for the computer mouse.

"No! You can go if you want!" She quite adamantly pulled her hand back.

"So, you're not going to come?' Oliver took a deep breath and exhaled.

"No!" She growled.

He placed Felicity's purse he'd been walking around with all this while on the computer desk, "Fine!" He dragged out a chair and placing it next to her, "Then I'm going to sit right here!" He sat down with his arms crossed.

"Fine you do that!" she again started to type in a very slow pace and tears started to fall on the keyboard.

"Why are you crying over this guy?" He truly wanted to know, he wanted to know what was so special about him, and most importantly he wanted to know what this Brandon Cooper guy looked like so that he could use an arrow or two on him.

"You wouldn't understand…." Felicity smeared the tears away and looked at Oliver.

"Try me…" Oliver dared his IT girl.

After staring at him for a long second felicity began to tell her story, "Brandon Cooper 'the star quarter back of West Glen High' he was my first crush… I had it so bad for him…" Suddenly her tiny sobs turned to loud ones. "One day I fell into the pool… actually, Bernice pushed me…" Hiccups ensued, yet she continued amidst them, "Brandon saved me… and he thought he needed to do mouth to mouth and… and silly me thought he was going to kiss me …. And I did…"

Oliver took his handkerchief out and handed it to Felicity. "So everyone laughed at you?"

Felicity grabbed the little cloth and wiped her tears, "Yes… and he laughed along… but the worse part of it was, at the graduation…. he came to me and said…" She paused as if she had lost her train of thought, very different from sober Felicity whose train of thought seemed to flow like a water fall in a rainforest.

"What did he say?" Oliver leaned in, eager to hear what the high school jock had said to keep her sulking over him for years.

"He said… he really was going to kiss me that day, but I just had done it first… he said he's sorry he never told anyone the truth…" Felicity blew her nose in to the handkerchief. "Now he's married to Bernice… I hate her… It shouldn't be her… He should've been mine… why does she always want everything I want… Why?" She whined and blew her nose once more.

"Are you telling me, you're crying over the man, who let everyone laugh at you, when he could've just told the truth?" Oliver couldn't bring himself to understand, Felicity a genius by her own right would be moping over a guy who didn't even have the guts to tell her he had wanted to kiss her.

"Laurel was still willing to sleep with you after what you did with her sister?" She covered her mouth quickly realizing what she had said, "Oops… did I say that out loud?" She battered her eye lids innocently, making a puppy dog face, "I must be really drunk!" She giggled crazily, finding her own words to be funny.

Oliver sighed to release his frustration, "That was different… she was…" He hesitated not knowing how to label his relationship with Laurel anymore.

"She is the love of your life… and if that… that Bernice hadn't married Brandon he could've been mine…" Felicity with that turned to the computer, her hiccups slowly fading as she tried hard to concentrate on breaking through the firewall that guarded the FBI database.

Everything that Felicity said made him wince a bit, "You really don't believe that do you?"

Felicity was too busy with her hacking to answer; she snuffled a bit but didn't answer.

Oliver wanted to see Brandon Cooper's slimy face, and probably discover that he's not worthy enough to mope over. "What's so great about this guy? Why do you want to be married to him anyway?"

Felicity made her sleepy eyes bigger and she pumped her fist up in the air, "Yes!" She shouted, "What do you know… I'm still a genius even when I'm drunk," It seemed Felicity had dug up information about Brandon Cooper out of the FBI database. "Here… you can see how magnificent and gorgeous Brandon is…"

Oliver examined the stamp sized photograph on the top right hand corner of the screen very closely. The guy wasn't ugly by any means but he had that 'My life cannot get any better' smile on his face which made Oliver want to break his teeth and listen to the pieces crumble to the floor.

He started to read the information typed in black, "Why does the FBI have information on Brandon Cooper?" There was nothing so magnificent about him, at least not in Oliver's eyes. However there wasn't much dirt on him either, nothing to be exact; his profile was clean as a whistle.

She looked at him rather mischievously, "They have information about almost any one… Do you want to see what naughty things your beautiful Laurel has been up to?" Felicity was chuckling for some reason.

He almost considered going through Laurel's profile, "No I don't want to! And I don't understand what you're going to do with this info you found on your 'friend'?" Oliver looked away from the screen and turned to Felicity.

She put her finger on her cheek to think, "I remember I had some kind of a plan when I came up here… a huge plan… but now I'm too drunk to remember," her hiccups started again, and it made her laugh.

"Let's go!" He got up pulling her by her wrist.

"Where?" She was stubbornly staying put on her chair.

"We'll walk into the gym and you'll show off your perfect millionaire boyfriend to Brandon Cooper and the gang," Oliver suggested, his eyes brighten by the mere idea of putting down Bernice and Brandon in front of their friends.

"Did you just call yourself perfect?" Felicity stood up, her forehead furrowed as she examined him, as if to check whether he truly was perfect.

The way she scanned him made him smile, "No that's not what I meant, we'll put on a show… a great show… let's make them cry, let's show Brandon what he missed out on, and show Bernice that Brandon meant nothing to you…"

Her hand landed on his chest, and they began to roam all over,"You really are kind of perfect," It seemed nothing much of what he had said had gone to her head.

A second later, her head too fell on to his chest. Her arms wrapped themselves around his waist. Oliver could feel her whole body weight now beginning to rest on him. He wasn't sure but he thought she was snoring.

Oliver could feel her feet slip, "Felicity Are you asleep?" He asked softly grabbing her before she fell.

"I… want to go home…." He heard her cry into his chest.

"Ok we'll take the chopper," He whispered.

She was suddenly awake and fairly energetic. "No! I want to walk!" she looked at him as if he had propositioned her.

"You want to walk? Home is too far away! And you're too drunk!" He explained knowing very well she wouldn't listen.

She loosened her hands that had been resting around his waist and stomped her foot like a little girl throwing a tantrum. "No I want to walk!"

"I guess we'll walk home then!" He knew after few minutes she would just grow tired and they would have to find other means of getting back home, but he agreed anyway to her request, just to give her what she wanted and make her happy again.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: **Thanks to everyone who are reading the story.

_And **GoChlollie** you wanted them to show off... so I tried to add a bit of that in the chapter, as initially I wasn't going to... there might not be as showing off as you would want... but I tried... _

_ And **LoneStar**, I don't think even Oliver realizes that he likes her as much as he does... _

_**GreenPhoenix3** Glad you liked drunk Felicity and more of it is coming up this chapter and probably the next._

_**Dianitachiva, Bella-mi-amore, Jadiee **and **Lil5weetie** thanks for the lovely reviews._

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**Chapter 6**

As they both walked out of the building, Felicity was hanging on to Oliver as if her dear life depended on him.

"There you are!" Bernice appeared from nowhere as if she had been hiding behind a bush somewhere waiting, just to pounce on Oliver and Felicity, "What were you two love birds doing there all by yourselves? Not that it's any of my business…" Bernice had her artificial smile on; it truly was an artificial smile because of the seemingly large number of plastic surgeries she had done on her lips.

"You're right! It is none of your business!" Felicity snapped, still leaning to Oliver who had his hand around her to make sure she wouldn't miss a step and fall.

"Don't be rude honey! It's not her fault that she doesn't know people like us who are madly in love can't keep their hands off of each other…" He kissed Felicity's hair, and she appeared too drunk and too involved in frowning at Bernice to notice it, and feel all awkward about it like she normally did.

Bernice smiled trying to hide her embarrassment, "So are you two leaving early, without even dancing?"

Oliver took control of the conversation, as he knew whatever Felicity would say would be triggered by anger and it would only make Bernice happy to see her frustrated, "We were about to leave… But now that you mentioned it… it would be a damn shame to leave without dancing at least once,"

Felicity looked up at him and waved her head to say 'no', her eyes desperately pleading him to stop with whatever ideas he may be having.

Bernice observed Felicity's reluctance and laughed, "It's Ok Felicity we all know you've never been much of a dancer… anyway you seem a little… off… did something happen to you?"

"Nothing happened to me!" Felicity got out from Oliver's hold and tried to show that she could still stand by herself, "Come on honey let's go dance!" Felicity dragged Oliver to the way of the gym, passing Bernice who watched her with a very crafty smile.

"Are you coming?" Felicity turned back to Bernice.

"Right behind you!" Bernice followed them.

"Good!" Felicity countered, and Oliver couldn't help but smile at Felicity's spite.

They were walking few feet ahead of Bernice and when Oliver looked behind and glanced at her time to time he could see her ears and eyes turned to them like satellites.

Felicity suddenly began to walk on her toes, so that she could whisper to Oliver, "Psst Oliver…" She tugged him from his coat and made him bend down a little bit to adjust to her height, "I really can't dance… I mean I can… a little… but I'm not good in front of people… and I'm sure I would be terrible now… Because I think I might be more than a little drunk…"

"Really? I didn't notice," He whispered back, smiling at her.

"I think I might be, because can you see that man over there…" She pointed somewhere. "I can see two of them,"

Oliver followed her hand and found what she was pointing at, two men standing at the entrance to the gym, "There really are two people there Felicity!" He tried to keep his smile hidden.

She raised her eye brows as if she had an epiphany, "Whoa I am drunk! I think there should be only one when there are two… or is it just my contacts?"

"I doubt it's your contacts…" Oliver shook his head at her silliness.

Felicity transferred more of her weight onto Oliver looking for his support, "Yeah, I must be drunk… I did drink that whole bottle of champagne,"

Oliver clasped her securely by one hand, "I thought you spilt a little," He used his other hand to gesture the amount she had said she spilt, the same way she had shown him at the computer lab.

"I may've lied then, or maybe now I can't remember if I spilt it or not…" Felicity looked up at the sky trying to think, her finger drawing patterns in midair as if she was trying to solve a complex mathematical equation.

Oliver who had been holding his laughter all this while finally laughed out loud.

Felicity glared back at him, as if he was the drunken one gone crazy.

"Hey! What are you two laughing about? Are you two talking about me?" Bernice seemed very edgy and insecure.

It made Oliver laugh out even more as it looked like that his plan to make Bernice jealous was already working.

"Not everything is about you Bernice!" Felicity muttered under her breath.

They were at the gym in few minutes, followed by Bernice of course.

"Shall we dance milady?" Oliver took Felicity's hand and placed a soft kiss.

Felicity fanned herself, to stop herself from blushing, "I guess," She was surprised she managed to say anything at all, given the fact she felt like her head was spinning, due to draining a whole bottle of champagne and due to the kiss Oliver had just laid on her hand.

"Wait!" Bernice screeched.

"What now?" Felicity turned to Bernice irritated.

"We'll join you two…" Bernice scanned for her husband, who popped out of the crowd just in time.

"Sweetheart, come let's dance!" Bernice waved at her husband, and he came flashing his extra white teeth.

"Hey Felicity… and nice to finally meet you Mr. Queen…" Brandon greeted, his hand reaching to say hello.

"Call me Oliver," Oliver acted as though he didn't see Brandon's hand that awaited his, "Shall we dance then," He placed one hand on Felicity's back and got ready to lead her to the dance floor.

Felicity nodded, and let herself be guided towards the little crowd by Oliver.

There were fewer people dancing than before and they all were doing nothing but swaying about to the mildly fast music.

Oliver spun Felicity around once and drew her back to him.

"You're really good at this…" Felicity put one hand on his shoulder, as her other one locked itself with his.

He placed his other hand on her hips, and started to sway her to the music, "You're not so bad either, considering the fact you probably might be drunk," He watched her sleepy eyes look up at him confused.

"Did I tell you I drank a whole bottle of champagne?" Felicity looked more drunk than a minute ago.

"Yes you did, Felicity!" Oliver held back his smile and turned his eyes at Bernice and Brandon Cooper, who seemed to lack any chemistry in their dance and top of that looked somewhat uncoordinated.

"Oh? Did I tell you I might have spilt a little?" She narrowed her eyes.

Oliver returned his attention back to the blonde in his arms, "I think you might've mentioned that," Oliver didn't know how but he kept himself together without cracking up.

"Did I tell you I thought the way you came down from the Helicopter was cool?" Felicity mumbled, resting her head against his chest.

"No, but does that mean we can take the Helicopter home?" Oliver was hopeful.

She lifted her head back from his chest, and waved her head, "No! we'll walk!" Her face wrinkled.

"And why is that Felicity?" Oliver couldn't understand why she was resisting going on the damn vehicle; any other girl would have loved a ride on it. He remembered that she had once stated that she may be afraid of heights; but she must've taken a flight to somewhere, she must've travelled in a plane, he had figured.

"Because I'm still angry at you for showing up in it," She disclosed and cast her stare upon the rival couple.

"That doesn't make any sense, I thought you said it looked cool," Oliver mumbled spinning Felicity around one more time.

She looked utterly disoriented when she returned to him, "Of course it doesn't make sense… I'm drunk... I thought I already told you that?"

"Of course how could I've forgotten that?" Oliver rolled his eyes.

Bernice and Brandon had danced their way closer to Oliver and Felicity, "Felicity, seems like you've taken some time off from your computers and taken a dance class," Bernice uttered.

"Well, she didn't need to take any classes… when you go to so many fundraisers, and the Mayor's balls and all that, it just naturally comes to you, isn't it true honey?" Oliver fibbed.

"We went to the Mayor's Ball?" Felicity blinked trying to remember what never happened.

Bernice looked very intrigued by Felicity's reaction, while Brandon was nonchalant of it all.

"Of course you did honey… remember you wore that very beautiful dress I bought you from Paris?" Oliver almost crossed his fingers hoping Felicity wouldn't blow the whole thing over by one of her babbles, "The one I tore off of you the moment we got back home?" He breathed the words to her cheeks.

She said nothing, she simply stared, her pink cheeks taking an even darker shade.

"I think she can't remember since we've been to so many," Oliver tried to reel it back in with one more lie.

The look of hatred on Bernice's face was proof enough of the success of Oliver's fabrications.

The rival couple then retreated to their previous post on the dance floor.

Oliver didn't know anything about Bernice but he was sure she may've never felt as defeated as she had done, hearing him brag about their social and other wanton activities. All of which were as a matter of fact were nonexistent.

"Oliver," Felicity called him tenderly.

"hmm?" He promptly looked down at her.

"Thank you…" She uttered drowsily, trying to blow away the strand of hair that was fallen to her face.

"For what?" He tucked the stubborn strand behind her ear.

She shrugged, "I'm not sure… because I'm…"

"Because you're drunk… I know," His lips once more danced and turned to a smile to the umpteenth time that night.

She giggled softly and searched for his chest to rest her head again.

Worried she may fall asleep, in the middle of the dance floor; Oliver spun her and dipped her.

He could hear some of the crowd cheer at their very elaborate dance move, and he could imagine what Bernice and Brandon's face may look like that moment.

"Oliver…" She mumbled looking still bewildered by their fast dance move.

His face he suddenly discovered to be inches away from hers. He hadn't seen her so surprised ever, not even when she babbled the wrong thing at the wrong time.

He felt as if there was some kind of a force pushing him to her as he had begun to bow towards her, little by little. "Hmmm?" He found it difficult talk so he just hummed.

"I think dipping me was a really bad idea… I think I'm going to throw up," Felicity wriggled below him.

"Oh?" He brought the two of them back up, "Let's go outside and get you some fresh air…" He took her away from the crowd, putting his arm around her once more.

"I guess I'll have to show off my millionaire fiancé some other time…" Felicity leaned on to his very firm body.

"You mean boyfriend?" Oliver corrected her.

"I don't know… what was I talking about? You know I'm drunk right?" She looked at him wide eyed.

"Yes I know Felicity… you drank a whole champagne bottle…" He swung his head to the rhythm of his words.

"And I may've spilt this much on Bernice's suede car seats…after I picked the lock on her car… using a little trick Digg taught me!" She confessed her eyes fluttering, trying to act innocent.

"You did what?" Oliver couldn't believe that his IT girl could do such a thing, seek vengeance like so. Hacking the FBI database to dig up dirt, and breaking into probably Bernice's Facebook account he could understand, but this was different.

She held onto him tighter as they walked and rested her head on under his arm "You know I'm drunk right?" She sighed as though she was exhausted.

He didn't question her any further; he just strolled along with her quietly, hoping to walk her home as promised.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Yay 100 reviews!**

Thanks radiate689 for all the reviews. bluebell -UK I think you'll find you were right about something. Thanks for everyone who said they love drunk felicity, I enjoyed writing her. I was going to write some more but then I kept it for later to keep the suspense...thanks for those who said they hate Bernice too ;) Thanks for all the 100 reviews 52 favorites and 176 alerts really. You all rock.

I hope you all like this one...

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**Chapter 7**

"_Felicity! Heads up!" She heard Bernice shout before sending her plummeting into the pool with a shove._

_She, 'Felicity Megan Smoak' was never a much of a swimmer, and unexpectedly being pushed by Bernice only made matters worse. Her unsuspecting feet merely flapped uncoordinatedly so, unable to cope with the great plight she was in._

_She may not have been drowning, in reality it wasn't even the deep end of the pool, in fact if she had stood up straight and let her toes touch the bottom of the pool, her head could've been floating more than a few inches above water level, yet the laugher she heard all around, made her want to believe she was drowning after all._

_Suddenly she heard a splash. "Felicity!" the voice was so familiar, so reassuring she felt relaxed and her feet began to move less crazily than they had done few seconds ago._

_A hand grabbed her securely and drew her away from any imminent danger and out of the pool. _

_Her vision was blurred as her glasses may probably be sitting somewhere at the bottom of the pool, or was she wearing contacts, she wasn't quite in her right mind to remember. _

_Her high school friends seemed to have stopped laughing at her, maybe because they had thought finally the IT geek had died._

_It was merely their wishful thinking, though a bit confused she was alive and breathing lying on the tiles at the edge of the pool. _

_She could see someone, a man on his knees leaning closer to her._

"_Felicity, are you alright?" Her savior asked._

_She couldn't see who it was clearly, but she thought she recognized the voice, "Oliver?" She blinked her eyes to at least get rid of the burn of the chlorine water._

"_Are you alright?" He questioned again, and she well and truly believed it to be Oliver Queen._

"_Yes… a little cold, but I'll live…" She made herself laugh and a very unladylike snort came out of her, and she guessed him to be smiling like he always did whenever she had a mishap with her words or she so miserably tried to bring about lightheartedness in to some very dark situations._

"_That's great to hear," He was definitely smiling; his tone told her as much._

_The more she smiled back the more her teeth gritted together as per the unbearable cold. _

_Her face turned to a frown seeing his blur of a face slither closer to hers. "Why does this feel like Déjà vu?" She glared at him puzzled._

"_Hmmm?" He sounded as if he had been in a dream world of his own and her question had just woke him up. Yet for felicity's misfortune his face didn't stop reaching out for hers._

_Closer he got the more clear his face became to Felicity. She could see his big blue eyes; his inviting lips come at her slowly and steadily._

"_Felicity," He uttered softly. _

_She wanted to see his face more clearly to know why exactly his voice sounded as desperate and eager when he called her name. _

_Alas she being the clumsy girl she was, she made her lips crash into his rather unintentionally. Though she was not sure how long it stayed their glued to his, or whether it was her own doing that kept them connected for so long, she frantically moved her head back realizing what had just happened. "I'm sorry I'm drunk!"_

_Her realization had come all too late for her high school colleagues were laughing at her, "He was only going to give you mouth to mouth!"_

_She closed her eyes, wishing she was not there but somewhere else, anywhere but in high school._

"_Felicity, wake up!" He was telling her, but she didn't budge._

"_How could a looser like her even dare to kiss Brandon Cooper," Someone laughed loudly confusing her further about what had just happened, who she had just accidentally crashed her lips onto._

"_Felicity, wake up!" It was Oliver, she was sure, or was it Brandon Cooper she may not have been that sure. Whoever it was she was too embarrassed to open her eyes and look at his face, even if she still couldn't see all that well._

* * *

"Felicity, wake up!" This time it truly was Oliver, she could bet a million dollars on it.

However her eyes were too heavy to open.

"Felicity, wake up… you're having a bad dream," He called her again.

Finally she peeled her eyes open, stretching her neck. Her head throbbed as if someone had hit her head with an iron pole. "Ah my head hurts!" She scarcely remembered emptying a bottle of champagne and spilling a bit somewhere.

She had never slept with her contacts on, she hated them to begin with, but this was one of the rare times she was glad they were still on. For one she didn't need to search for her glasses to see that she was in some kind of a motel, a rather dingy one at that, and most importantly she could see it was Oliver who had woken her up, wearing just a towel, exhibiting all his tattoos and scars proudly as ever on his very well-toned body.

"Oh glad to see you're finally up honey…" He hovered over the side of her bed.

"Ha Ha Funny!" She mocked, shooting a glance at him as she tried to sit up only realize that she had been under the bed covers without a string of clothing. "What happened last night?" His state of clothing scared her for completely different reasons than usual. As it was more than probable that both, her state of clothing and his could lead to very dangerous clues about what may've transpired between them last night. "Why are you wearing only that little towel…? And where're my clothes?"

"Can't you remember what happened last night honey? Well that's a shame… It was a lot of fun…" Oliver teased.

"What… what do you mean?" She was scared to even ask.

"You know… we did what engaged couples were supposed to do?" Oliver took his phone and pressed on the touch screen as if there status quo was nothing to be alarmed about.

"What did we do?" She shouted looking at Oliver, "Wait! What? Did you just say, 'engaged couples'?" She was worried. She was worried she had done what people in those romantic comedy movies do and had gotten married or engaged while she was drunk.

Oliver handed her his phone, "Here this might enlighten you…"

She took the phone, finally sitting upright, holding the sheet that covered her, close to her chest with one hand.

Oliver had accessed a very popular gossip website via his phone. She gasped the moment she saw the most ghastly headline. _"Oliver Queen Engaged to a Mysterious Blonde?" _The headline was in thick '_Arial Black_' font, she had never hated a font type as she had that day.

"_Oliver Queen heir to Queen Consolidated, Our much beloved playboy finally seemed to be ready to settle down," _Felicity mumbled what was on the article. "_He was seen with a blonde, going into a motel that he wouldn't normally be seen even standing next to. Our sources had confirmed this blonde to be Felicity Smoak an Employee of Queen Consolidated._" Felicity read as fast as she could and looked at Oliver who was just standing there waiting for her to finish reading the article. "Oh no... Oh no this is bad…" She blurted nervously.

"Keep reading it gets worse…" Oliver prompted, leaning on to the wall behind him.

She put her head down and started reading again, "_You might think how can we say that these two are engaged just because they were seen entering a motel?" _She read the fine print with wide opened eyes, "_Well, our sources had found out that these two had been spending an awful lot of time together for a while now. Some of the Queen Consolidated employees have confirmed they had seen Mr. Queen going to the IT department often to visit the blonde in question, and some have seen them at the Verdant, the very popular night club owned by Oliver Queen himself," _Felicity looked up at Oliver Briefly,_ "_You're right! This is getting worse!_" _She imagined how all this would lead to people finding out Oliver was the hood and it scared her more than anything. "How did they find out all these things in such a short time anyway?"

"People are willing to do anything for money Felicity…" He came forward, towards her again.

"But still…" She knew the world she lived in was not exactly a fairy tale, she knew that these days there aren't that many who were capable of keeping their integrity intact when someone flashed money at them, but still it was hard to believe these people were able to get such information on her in such a short amount of time. Especially since, she had thought she had erased every possible thing off any electronic medium that could help people connect the dots and discover what Oliver and she had been up to, but apparently wiping security footage off of verdant and queen consolidated had not been enough, she couldn't really wipe people's memories. It was time like these she wished she was a vampire that could compel people to forget, even though she was more of a super hero liking, comic book reading kind of a gal.

"Here, let me read the most interesting part out for you" Oliver grabbed the phone from her hands and started reading, "_Bernice Carlisle, Felicity Smoak's dear friend had told us, 'They were there at our high school reunion tonight. Felicity… she's such a great person… she's one of my closest friends, she tells me everything… and she told me Oliver was her fiancé and she said she'll be sending a wedding invitation soon.' So what were they doing in such a cheap motel?, you may ask, well according to Bernice's husband Brandon, 'They couldn't keep their hands off of each other and must have been very impatient If you know what I mean.' So then are we to believe that according to Bernice and Brandon that we're in for a winter wedding? However, one thing for sure this wedding will be as grand as they come. " _He finished reading and dropped the phone back at the bedside cupboard and it fell next to Felicity's purse.

"What? I hate her… how could she call herself my friend? How can these people call her my 'Dear friend' when they all know she's the one who ratted me out… If she was ever any dear friend of mine would she ever do that?" Felicity blasted. The sheet that covered her almost slipped under her hands.

"Felicity, she's saying that we're engaged and the only thing you're worried about is Bernice trying to make it look like she's your friend?" He shook his head unable to comprehend Felicity.

"Well… the engaged part might be partly… slightly… probably... marginally my fault… I didn't know you would show up and …then you showed up in that helicopter of all things and now… there's this article," Felicity eyed Oliver's phone as if it was a monster that would pounce and eat her any moment.

"What do you mean the engaged part might be your fault?" Oliver's eyes narrowed at her.

"I mean… I kind of told Bernice I'm waiting for my fiancé… I wasn't talking about you… I was expecting to show that guy from Secret Liaison… and we all know what happened to that poor guy," She sighed reaching and taking the phone into her hand., "This would blow over right?" She started to skim through the article again.

"Well… it will… eventually… but this is better than them finding out the real reason behind why you and I've been hanging out in the Verdant," Oliver started to walk around looking for something.

"Yeah this sure would be a great reason for a plain IT girl like me to be hanging around a playboy like Oliver queen," Felicity followed Oliver with her eyes as he walked about the room

"Wear this until Digg comes with some clothes for both of us…" He threw his shirt at her and turned his back to her so that she could get dressed.

"Hey! you still didn't explain to me what happened to my clothes?" Felicity asked putting the shirt on.

Before Oliver could answer her, his phone rang.

"I'm done!" Felicity chimed just as she finished buttoning the very last of the buttons.

He picked up his phone, "Hello… yes… yes she'll be there… yes… I'll make sure… OK…" Oliver sounded as though he was in a guilty man talking to a judge of some sort.

He cut the call, "That was my mom… she wants you to come to our place for lunch… sharp at noon"

"What?" She jumped out of bed. This was something she hadn't even considered until Oliver brought it up. She had never met the woman in person, but she knew she was to be feared. She felt that there had to be a reason why her friends at the IT department dubbed 'Moira Queen' as 'The Ice Queen'. "We need to tell her the truth!" She screamed, imagining the Ice Queen turning her into an ice statue right after firing her.

Yet Oliver seemed preoccupied. Though his eyes were definitely cast on her, he didn't utter a word.

His stare made her self-conscious and she came to tug the shirt she was wearing, and slouch so that her legs were not as exposed as they were. "Oliver… we need to tell your mom the truth… call her and say what really happened!" She shouted again and it seemed Oliver had heard her this time.

"Eh… well… you don't know my mom…. I can't explain something like this to her over the phone… she wouldn't listen… we'll both go and I'll explain everything to her…" He grabbed his pants from the chair it had been hanging in and put it over his shoulder.

"What about this article? Aren't we going to tell them what really happened?" Felicity's bare foot drew patterns on the floor feeling rather uncomfortable to be standing in front of Oliver in just his shirt.

His eyes looked to be trying to read the design she was making with her foot up on the red carpet, "I doubt they'll believe us anyway… but like I said before it's better than them finding out what we're really doing at Verdant…. And do you really want to give Bernice the satisfaction of finding out it was all a lie?" Oliver stared at her and she was beginning to believe he was trying to hypnotize her to agree with him.

"I guess you're right…" She uttered and hurried towards the bathroom seeing that the little radio clock near the bed said, 'eleven am', "I'll go take a shower…" She went inside and closed the door.

Not a second later she heard a knock. "And Felicity, don't for a second think you are just a plain IT girl… you're the most crazy and brilliant and brave and remarkable…"

"Are you going to add anymore adjectives… not that I'd mind… I mean it's great…" She blushed until she was beetroot red, yet at the same time she felt her stomach do turns reminding her she should think twice before she even touch a champagne bottle again, "But I really feel like throwing up… not because of what you are saying… I think because… if I remember correctly I drank a whole bottle of champagne last night and it isn't something I'm that used to…. I've gotten drunk before… but once... In college …and I swore to myself that I won't let myself get that drunk again…" Her ramblings stopped only because she started to throw up once more.

He knocked a few times in a very hasty rhythm, "Felicity, are you alright in there?"

"If feeling like a truck has just crushed your brain flat, is alright? Then I'm perfectly alright..." She muttered looking around the not so sanitary looking motel bathroom, thinking how she had ended up in such a place without any clothes.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** Thanks all of you for the amazing response for the last chapter. For the reviews and favorites and Alerts and everything...

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**Chapter 8**

Oliver steered Felicity out of the motel as quickly as possible, his eyes scanning for any paparazzi that might be hiding behind some bush, some fence.

Diggle, who had been waiting in the car until they got dressed, came out and opened the car door for the both of them to get in.

"You never told me what happened to my clothes Oliver!" Felicity went in first.

Oliver followed her, throwing his last night cloths into some corner of the limo and he didn't look like he had heard her, for there was no answer.

Though in truth Felicity was glad he didn't say anything, for however much she wanted to know what had happened, she feared to hear it all the same. But it was suffice to say she was more than a little curious about the whole ordeal about waking up in a strange motel wearing absolutely nothing.

The lack of answers, at the mean time only made Felicity come up with worse and worse scenarios, and all that presumptions certainly didn't make it easier for her to sit beside him.

She was thus grateful they had sat leaving a fair bit of space between them. She was waiting for one moment or the next for something to trigger her lost memories, to know if she had done anything last night that she really shouldn't have done, but so far, luckily or unluckily no memory of her drunken misadventures had come to her.

Diggle went back around and sat in the driver's seat and lowered the little screen that separated the driver from the passengers, "Shall we get going then? Are you two ready?" He put the key in the ignition and made the engine roar.

"Yes…" Oliver nodded, fixing his suit.

"No! No! I'm not ready… How can I face your mom? What will I tell her?" Felicity's eyes fluttered rapidly like wings of a hummingbird, and her hands clutched her purse she had with her since yesterday, close to her chest.

"I'll handle my mom Felicity… Don't worry!" Oliver reassured, his hand tentatively stroked hers and took it back very urgently the moment her stare fell up on what he was doing.

She nodded uneasily and dropped her hands and the purse back onto her lap.

"So should I call you Mrs. Queen now or should I wait until after the big winter wedding?" Diggle teased as he eyed Felicity from the rear-view mirror.

Oliver too turned his attention to the blonde, very keen to know her answer.

"It's not funny Digg… there's nothing remotely funny about any of this!" Felicity garbled looking out the window. Faster the car moved faster her heart started to beat, for she knew the palace of the Ice Queen was getting ever so nearer.

Diggle snickered, "I thought you two must be having a good time, when I saw your message saying you're going to drop by at her reunion…. and then long afterwards realized Felicity had turned her phone off… she never does that, ever… but this is unexpected… not impossible… but unexpected…"

Felicity looked at Diggle's eyes that stared at her from the mirror as if she was an android trying to decode his hidden message.

"It's not what you think!" Oliver stated, his tone cold and harsh.

Diggle on the other hand seemed to be having the time of his life, for he had a huge proud smile gleaming across his face, "So then, which one of you'd care to explain your dear old friend Diggle, what really went on?"

"It's all, his fault!" Felicity grunted, huffing and puffing as she remembered how he came to her high school reunion in a Helicopter.

"My fault? I'm not the one who said I was your fiancé to Bernice Carlisle!" Oliver retorted.

"I told you, I didn't know you were going to show up when I said that! Everything would've been just fine if you hadn't showed up!" She grumbled moving farther away from Oliver.

"And how long did you two say you've been engaged? Because to me, you already sound like a bickering old married couple!" Diggle's eyes went from Felicity to Oliver.

Felicity just grunted in reply and looked out from the window on her side, while Oliver rolled his eyes and looked out from the window on his side.

Diggle simply smirked at their reactions and put the little black screen back up, so that the gang could enjoy the little bit of calm before the storm, the storm that awaited them at the Queen mansion.

Just as Felicity mustered some more courage to refer after her lack of clothing earlier in the day again, wishing that curiosity wouldn't really kill the cat, the Limousine came to a halt, "We are here!" Diggle came running and opened the door for Oliver, who was his master outside of the foundry, and for Felicity, who according to the tabloids was his wife to be.

Oliver got off and stood outside lending his hand to Felicity, to help her get out of the car.

Felicity gently took Oliver's hand and stepped out, marveling the huge mansion that stood before her eyes, "I've seen pictures of this place before… but this… this is so beautiful," She couldn't help but feel like Cinderella climbing out from her pumpkin carriage.

"Good Luck you two! Hope Mrs. Queen gives you her blessings," Diggle got back into the front seat of the car.

"You're leaving? Don't leave me Digg!" She felt like she was Snow White this time, whom the huntsman had left in the woods to be eaten by the wolves because he was too cowardly to kill her himself.

Diggle pulled down the window shutter, "I'm sorry Felicity…" He started the car, "I'm sure Oliver will take care of everything… he's your fiancé after all!" with one last nod at Oliver, Diggle closed the shutter and began to reverse the car.

"Not funny Digg… Not funny!" She screamed, pounding the side of the moving car.

Oliver started to walk up to the door to his mansion. "Let's go, it's already ten minutes past noon…" The man may be the Hood at night, but like every son he definitely seemed too scared to face his teed off mother.

"I wish I had just stayed at home, and had never gone to that stupid reunion! What was I thinking?" Felicity dragged her feet lethargically along the pavement that led to the front porch.

"Come on!" Oliver urged her to come and stand next to him.

She hurried a little bit trying to figure out how on Earth Diggle had found the blue heels she had thought she had lost forever. More than anything, she felt very thankful for Diggle, for bringing her trusty spectacles along with the heels and the dress, for without her spectacles she felt as good as naked. Especially when she was to stand in front of someone like Moira Queen, who would definitely look down on her, she needed her spectacles to give herself that extra bit of confidence.

Oliver rang the bell, as the door was locked.

"Do you think I look OK?" Felicity started to wipe away imaginary wrinkles off of her short dark blue georgette dress.

"You look fine!" He answered without even trying to look at her.

She made an annoyed sound at him for his lack of concern and her hand went up to his tie feeling that it was tied, a tad crookedly.

"What're you doing Felicity?" He patted her hand away, as if it was a pesky little mosquito.

"Wait!" She reached for the tie again and moved the knot until she thought it was just right. "There!" She smiled looking at the tie, her hand still resting on his chest below the little triangular knot.

His stare fell up on her hand, and she with a dreadfully awkward smile, took her hand away as swiftly as possible.

Oliver faced the door and the little frown on his face told Felicity that something certainly was circling in his brain.

He began to ring the bell again. He pushed on the little button endlessly for it seemed no one, no butler no servant had heard them.

"Felicity," He stopped pressing on the annoying bell.

"Yeah?" She cast her eyes on him, holding on to her burgundy purse that didn't exactly go with her blue dress.

"I just had an idea…" Oliver seemed a bit hesitant, but at the same time his eyes beamed with hope. "We should…"

"No!" She wasn't sure what his idea was, but she had a feeling it wasn't something she would agree on.

"You don't even know what it is!" He put on a half a smile, a smile which was just enough to make her want to listen to him.

"Whatever it is, you got approximately thirty seconds to make your case… because I think someone is coming to open the door," Felicity warned, and pointed at the door, in behind which she could hear someone gracefully descend, possibly from a very long stairway.

Oliver took a deep breath first and foremost, and then started to talk, "Let's carry on with this act… let's tell my mom it's real… Or how else will we explain why we're not trying to set the record straight with the press? How can we say it's not real to her and stay quiet about it to the press? She'll see that something is not right about it…"

"We'll just tell her we're trying to fool Bernice? Then we won't have to tell her we're going along with the press just to hide all the Hoody details, to hide what you and I've been doing at you know where…" She suggested.

"It won't work…" He stared at the door caught up in his thoughts.

"It will!" Felicity was stern.

"No!" He disagreed still looking at the door.

"No! I'm not agreeing to this… she'll hate me and she'll fire me and turn me in to an ice sculpture… so No…" Felicity muttered softly as she had noticed the footsteps to be closing in on the door.

Oliver shook his head first. Obviously, unable to understand how his mother could turn her into an ice sculpture. "But... " He protested, turning her around from her arms so that she was standing facing him.

He was trying to enthrall her with his bright blue eyes again she believed, thus she looked at his feet instead, the way they were pointed only at her. "No!" She said firmly as ever.

"But Felicity…" He had unconsciously drawn her stubborn self, closer towards him by her shoulders. Felicity like an idiot looked up at him and it only served to make her feel like a startled little rag doll under his intense stare.

"Well, well, well…" Thea was standing leaning onto the door ledge.

They hadn't even realized that the door had come ajar.

"I was just telling mom how this is just some dumb story made up by the tabloids… but it looks like I was wrong…" Thea seemed to have walked in the wrong moment and seemed to be very wrongly presuming that Oliver and Felicity's closeness was due to their apparent love for each other.

Oliver quickly let go of Felicity and he put on his ever beautiful smile, which only Felicity had come to learn as his fake one.

"Ehm… Hi… I'm Felicity," Felicity timidly held her hand out hoping Thea had not heard anything that she shouldn't have.

"Thea…" The young girl introduced herself, but didn't bother to shake Felicity's hand, "And I think we've met before… at the hospital?" She casually turned around and went back inside, leaving the door open for them to enter.

"Let's go in!" Oliver slightly pushed Felicity to make her step inside.

Felicity gulped but stood unmoved.

"Felicity!" Oliver muttered and dragged her inside somewhat forcefully.

Felicity wandered in looking about the very well designed and matched interior. Every little furniture, door, wall, chandelier had some kind of an intricate detail that said this was no ordinary mansion.

"Thanks a lot you two… I'll have to say good bye to my hundred bucks thanks to both of you!" Thea said as she strolled in front of them.

"What are you talking about, Speedy?" Oliver sounded a different man altogether when he was talking with his sister. It made Felicity stare at the back of his head as he dragged her towards the mammoth living room, which was almost as twice the size of her whole apartment.

Thea stopped and sat in the big armchair next to her, "I had a bet going with Roy… you know, about the two of you… whether it was real or not… so I'm guessing I lost?" She eyed them with a great deal of suspicion, "Because the way you were looking at her earlier…. I don't think I've ever seen you look at even Laurel that way…"

"Oh?" Felicity set her gaze upon Oliver, to see whether she could see for herself what Thea was alluding to.

"Where's mom?" Oliver looked to avoid the subject, like he always did whenever someone mentioned the name 'Laurel'.

"She was waiting for you two… and then she got a call from someone… I think she's in her office now…." Thea was examining Felicity the whole while, as if to see what her brother saw in the geeky IT girl.

"And Walter?" Oliver asked, leading Felicity to take a seat on the couch with him.

"He's stuck at Queen Consolidated with something… But… he was very excited to hear the news about you two…" Thea on the other hand didn't look even slightly excited or happy to meet her brother's future wife, for she simply glared at Felicity as if she was something Oliver had just dug out from a dumpster somewhere.

"If only he knew the truth…" Felicity mumbled to herself, earning a very heated gaze from Oliver who surely may have caught on to the gist of what she had said.

Attempting to avoid Oliver at all cost, Felicity adjusted her glasses and grinned shyly at the young brunette who didn't even attempt to smile back. Thea was '_Team Laurel'_ for sure, Felicity figured.

"Oh you've finally decided to show up?" Moira Queen appeared out of some room; she smiled only at her own two children and didn't care to even look at Felicity at first.

Felicity felt her legs wobble like jelly upon seeing the woman.

Little bit of jail time, seemed to have done nothing to the woman's complexion, or her well maintained hair, and more than anything it hadn't change her air of superiority.

Moira Queen had failed her city, and both Oliver and Felicity knew she was still alive, because she had confessed to her sins, and had paid for it by going to jail. In any case she looked to be a mere pawn in a larger game of chess, and certainly the fact that she was Oliver's mother was to her advantage, for it was one of the key reasons that had helped her stay alive and still stand there looking to scrutinize everything in front of her.

Even if Oliver had tried and wanted to bring about the end of her evil reign shooting an arrow through her heart, Felicity wouldn't and couldn't allow him to go through with it, for she knew, if Oliver had ever hurt his mother he wouldn't be able to live with it, live with the guilt.

All three got up as Moira Queen came and stood in front of Felicity, "You must be Felicity Smoak?" The Ice Queen said nothing more to her and turned her back even before Felicity could open her mouth.

Moira began to walk towards the room on to the right of her. "Let's have lunch shall we?"

"Good! I'm starving," Thea followed her mother.

Felicity pulled Oliver to the side from his arm and waited till the others were out of earshot, "Oliver, we really should tell your mother the truth…" She whispered, and almost brought up her hand to bite her nails, a nervous habit she had thought she had long let go.

"We'll see…" Oliver took her by her hand, interlaced her fingers with his own and walked her towards the dining room.

She let herself be dragged away by him, her gaze falling up on their entwined hands, his mother and sister.

The two Queen women were sitting by the dinner table waiting for Felicity to take her seat, as if they were both cannibals and she, 'Felicity Smoak' was their main course.

* * *

**GreenPhoenix3 - **Sorry I don't think Roy is invited inside the Queen mansion yet, but Thea was there. Walter might show up next chapter.

**Colizuma, CQCEASH **and** Lil5weetie - ** You will surely find out what happened to her clothes next chapter.

**bluebell-uk - **I hope you liked Digg's reaction bits.

**Ashira Storm, Dianitachiva, Jadiee, ****Bluedragon81 SharkGurl, The Wonderful Mistique, Lonestar, Say-it **and** guest reviewer, **thanks for the reviews and hope you all like where every thing is going.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: **Thanks for the reviews, favorites and alerts again. Love you all! This chapter is little bit long, because I promised I'll explain what happened to Felicity's clothes.

* * *

**Chapter 9**

Felicity put her bothersome purse on an unoccupied spot on the dining table and took the silvery fork into her hand.

The table was set and delicacies Felicity had never seen before was spread in front of her.

They were so beautifully arranged; at first she wasn't sure whether she should taint what looked like a great work of art by planting her fork.

She was just about to poke the elegantly decorated piece of meat on her plate, when she heard Moira Queen call her. "So Felicity…"

Felicity looked up at the woman quite startled, her fork gliding on top of the food on her plate, unsure whether she should continue what she was doing or should stay still and listen.

"Walter tells me you're some kind of a genius?" The way Moira put the words together made it sound like an insult.

"Well not a genius… I mean I do have a very high IQ… a genius one… yeah I guess you can call me a genius," Felicity babbled, seeking some sort of help from Oliver who was sitting next to her.

"She is a computer whizz…" Oliver added, and smiled at Felicity as if asking her to relax.

Thea suddenly burst into laughter.

"What's so funny Thea?" Moira turned to her daughter.

"Nothing…" Thea quickly took her napkin and wiped her mouth and her smile.

Felicity glowered at the young girl, trying to understand why she had laughed so loudly out of the blue.

Moira sighed and put her fork down, "Let's stop beating around the bush and get straight to the point! Is this what we hearing about the two of you true? If so, are you pregnant? And how many months?"

"What? No... No… Mrs. Queen… there's nothing like that… tell her Oliver!" Felicity elbowed Oliver.

"We're engaged and she's not pregnant! Anymore questions?" Oliver glared at his mother.

Granted, that pretending to be engaged would help Felicity a great deal in convincing Bernice that it was no hoax. Moreover, she knew it would help them hangout freely at the Verdant without letting the rest of the world worry themselves over what some IT geek was doing with a handsome Billionaire, specifically an IT geek who was taken in for questioning regarding a certain hacking incident at the Merlyn tower.

Yet Felicity hadn't seen none if it as being reason enough to lie to Moira Queen.

However, on the other hand it seemed Oliver had decided all by himself that whether she wanted to or not they were going to continue with the charade.

"Oliver, No! Mrs. Queen the truth is…" Felicity began to stutter.

Oliver took over, "The truth is we love each other very much and I'm going to marry her very soon!"

It may've been a lie, but hearing Oliver say those words made Felicity shiver, made her hand tremble and drop the fork onto her plate.

Thea was quiet, yet her mind seemed to be working overtime. She gazed upon Felicity's face as if she was a complex puzzle that needed to be solved immediately.

"What? You can't be serious Ollie?" Moira smiled as if she was sure this was some kind of a practical joke.

"I am!" Oliver's hand hit the table hard as if to prove he was very much serious.

Moira went quiet; she was looking at Oliver's face as if she was in sheer disbelief.

"Oliver!" Felicity shouted his name in hope that he would change his mind and tell the truth.

"Let's go, Felicity… we don't have to listen to any of this!" Oliver stood up, his hand clutching on to Felicity's.

However rude or snobbish Moira Queen may've seemed Felicity felt it wasn't right to just get up and leave, especially when there wasn't really anything going on between them, other than all the vigilante stuff, of course. "But, we… Oliver and I…" Felicity wasn't sure where to begin, or how to say the truth.

She didn't know how it came about, she could barely remember Oliver pulling her hand up again; she could scarcely remember trying to stand up and that there was some sort of a plate crashing against some glass, then all she knew was that her blue dress had become soaked in red wine.

All pandemonium had come to a sudden pause at the sound of the wine glass that smashed against the well-furnished hardwood floor.

Felicity got her hand released from Oliver's and started to manically wipe the wine off with her hand.

"Rose! Please clean this mess on the floor!" Moira called a servant, who appeared out of nowhere and started to collect the pieces of glass spread around Felicity's feet.

"Oh dear, look what you did Oliver! Let's get you cleaned up honey!" Moira was standing next to Felicity, with a napkin in her hand trying to wipe the red wine that had made a purplish stain on her blue dress.

Felicity had to take a double take to realize that it truly was Moira Queen that had come to her aid, and when Felicity eyed Oliver, he looked as surprised by his mother's change of tone and attitude just as her. "At least now my purse sort of matches my dress…" Felicity tried to laugh, tried to break the weird tension that had taken control of the room.

Thea who was still sitting and eating away unaffected by what was happening around her, seemed to be the only one to had found it funny, but she had her smile quickly muffled by her napkin.

"Come, with me!" Moira took the much bamboozled Felicity by her hand and led her away from the dining table.

"Felicity?" Oliver reached to catch Felicity's hand again, but all he caught was the edges of her fingers, he looked at her as if asking her not to go willingly to the dragon's cave.

Felicity easily slipped through his fingers, and grabbed her purse for some reason, as if it had some hidden weapon that could help her cast a spell on the Ice Queen, "It's alright," She nodded.

Felicity didn't know what she was thinking, but she had decided to follow Moira as she guided her towards a bathroom. She from the corner of her eyes could see Oliver taking a step to follow her.

"Don't worry Ollie she won't eat your little girl friend!" Thea was heard saying to Oliver, possibly to stop her brother for coming after them.

Felicity could just imagine Oliver's very annoyed face. She could almost hear his fast unsteady breaths, even if they were now moving farther away from the dining room.

Moira opened a door, and it revealed the most ravishing and sparkling clean bathroom Felicity had even seen.

"Come," Moira took Felicity inside and started to soak the napkin in her hand in water and then started to wipe her dress. Felicity just stood looking down at the Billionaire who was gracious enough to help get her dress wine stain free.

Felicity put her purse on the edge of the wash-hand basin, "Mrs. Queen… I'm sorry for…" Felicity was trying to apologize, without even knowing for what she was apologizing.

Moira didn't look at Felicity; she seemed too occupied in smearing away the stain. "I should be the one to say sorry dear, not you!"

The words took Felicity by surprise, she was more than certain, Moira Queen was not in favor of his son marrying some unknown, probably according to Moira a lowly IT girl, "Ehm… I… I…" She didn't know what she was supposed to say to her. She had come all ready to defend herself, not to hear Moira Queen apologize of all things.

After cleaning the dress Moira stood up and put the napkin on the little gold stand next to the sink, "You need to understand Felicity… Our family had been going through a lot for the past few years. First Robert and Oliver… we heard no news of them for five years and then Oliver showed up… he showed up a very different man… and he's no longer the same son that I lost five years ago…"

Moira's eyes were tearing up and all Felicity could do was just hopelessly stare at her.

"Thea with the drugs… and then Walter getting kidnapped… Then me… going to jail… The Queen name is not what it used to be Felicity. And I'm sure this isn't what Robert had envisioned for the city or for our family…" Moira looked away to hide her tears, but Felicity could still see her guilt stricken face and tears from the mirror in front.

To see tears run down from The Ice Queen's eyes was a sight Felicity hadn't quite expected, but there they were.

"I was just looking out for my family… When I saw the pictures of you two all over the tabloids, I just thought…" Moira wiped her tears and turned back to Felicity. However as Moira continued to tell her side of things, the only thing that rang in Felicity's head was the fact there had been pictures of them, of Oliver and his IT girl, all over the tabloids; tabloids which her own mother and father may've come across.

"I just thought you were some gold digger… or some woman Oliver had gotten pregnant…" Oliver's mother explained.

Felicity sighed tired of all the secrets and lies, "Mrs. Queen… It's not like that, I'm not…"

"Yes! Now I know you're not like that Felicity… I should've known that you're nothing like that, the moment Walter jumped out of joy seeing the headlines… He holds you in such high regard… and Oliver though he is a changed man… he is my son after all and I can see that he cares very deeply for you. I saw it the moment he called you a, '_computer whizz'_… I just didn't want to believe it." Moira's lips were slowly turning into a smile and it was harder for Felicity to react to than reacting for her cries. This seemed to be Moira Queen's way of giving her blessings to them, and the fact that she seemed to be genuinely happy at their union, made Felicity feel utterly tongue tied.

There was a very long pause, a moment of unbearable silence, and Felicity could see that Moira was waiting her to say something, tell her that she understood her. However all Felicity wanted to say was that she didn't want to mislead her and this; this whole engagement ordeal was nothing but a huge misunderstanding, "Mrs. Queen… I …I think…" Felicity stumbled. Looking at Moira Queen's high spirited face she couldn't bring herself to say what she ought to have, "I think I've got to pee…" She winced as she had once more uttered some nonsense instead.

"Very well dear…" Moira simply smiled, her eyes took a lighter shade and her Ice Queen like features were suddenly gone.

As Moira slowly walked out of the bathroom, Felicity began to close the door.

"And you can call me Mom from now on…" Moira spun about and said just before Felicity could shut the bathroom door, "I mean if you want to…" She added hesitating, seeing that Felicity was taken aback by her words.

Felicity could do nothing but smile like a fool and close the door on the older woman's face.

The moment Felicity heard the sound of Moira Queen's heals dwindle behind the closed door, she knowingly knocked her silly little head against the wall out of frustration, "I've gotta pee? … Brilliant Felicity… just Brilliant! Then you closed the door on the woman who asked you to call her mom? … And a minute ago you called yourself a genius! Just great!" After hitting her head knowingly upon the door for the tenth time, fearing she may've bruised her forehead, she finally stopped.

Then like a crazed woman she started to pace around, scratching her head, unable to truly take in the turn of events.

Abruptly, she came to a standstill, her eyes catching the sight of her purse sitting idly on the rim of the basin. She took it to her hand eagerly, seeking for her phone that she had kept turned off since last night.

Felicity was confused to see a bit of sand inside her purse, but putting all her theories about the mysterious sand aside for a moment she took her phone out.

Setting the purse back, where it had been before, she turned her little black phone on. There were twenty four text messages and eleven voice messages, mostly from her mother.

She ran her thumb across the touch screen a few times but never really hit the button to open any of the messages, afraid to read or hear what everyone may have to say about her sudden engagement to Billionaire Oliver Queen.

She wanted to hide her mobile back inside her purse, before she changed her mind and stupidly tried to open the messages once more.

Her clumsy hands slipped. The phone and the purse and everything in it splattered across the glossy black bathroom tiles.

Felicity noticed something roll across the floor and get stuck between the little space between the sink and the wall.

She bent down and picked it up and learnt it was her badge; the badge that she had been given upon entering the gym last night. It, to her wonderment had more sand stuck to its surface, than any other thing she had seen spill out from her purse.

She stared at the tiny round badge, it was trying to tell her something and she couldn't quite understand as to what.

The more she glared at it, things gradually started to make sense, and it was then she remembered what had happened to her clothes.

* * *

_She remembered walking out of the gym with Oliver, feeling dizzy after being dipped on the dance floor._

"_Oliver, I want to go home," She could now clearly recall her words._

"_Ok… let me call a cab…" Oliver's hand dove in to his jacket in search of his phone._

"_No let's walk," She was a drunken idiot who simply wanted to walk, because she was too afraid and stubborn to go on the helicopter Oliver so arrogantly had come down from, and why she had resisted to go on a cab as well, her sober self couldn't really comprehend._

"_If that's what you want…" That was all he had said, and they just kept walking._

_After few minutes they were walking along a narrow path, where trees seemed to be their only companions._

"_Oliver?" She was just calling his name out of habit._

"_Hmm?" He hummed and she realized all this while his hand had been cradling her as they walked._

_She answered Oliver's hum only a minute or two later, "Why are you here?" _

"_What do you mean?" His face wrinkled as he gazed, puzzled by her question._

"_I mean… after finding me an escort and everything…" She slurred and almost tumbled, stepping on her own foot._

_Oliver reacted quickly and didn't let her slip out from his hold, "I thought you said he's not going to show up?" _

_She was then silent; thinking, thinking hard._

"_You know what I think?" She had had some sort of a light bulb moment all of a sudden._

"_What?" He asked, a faint smile embellishing his lips._

_She just laughed out loudly without giving an answer, springing out of his hold._

_Her actions were making Oliver laugh almost as openly as her, "Why are you laughing Felicity?" He still seemed prepared to catch her in case she tripped._

"_I don't know! I'm drunk… what's your excuse?" She laughed even more standing in front of him, her burgundy purse dangling on her right arm by its thin gold chain._

_He frowned at her playfully, "I thought you were going to tell me something?"_

"_Hmm?" She put her index finger on her forehead trying to remember, "Oh yeah!" She pointed the finger at him, finally remembering what she had wanted to say, "I think you came… because… because… you were jealous!" She smirked, her finger now poking on his chest, her body slightly swinging about._

"_Of what?" He scoffed, seizing her finger._

_She got her finger freed with one pull that almost sent her tumbling backwards, "Of you know… me asking Digg instead of you… then about me meeting the handsome Jean? And possibly falling in love! And possibly having a gazillion of babies together?" She was trying hard to balance herself as she walked backwards on her heels._

_Oliver was following her, his concentration was mostly spent on her unsteady feet, "I admit I may have had a stupid plan to help you out but..." _

_She slipped and Oliver came forward and caught her. _

_She was too hammered to notice that he had his arms wrapped around her, "So you admit that you are a jealous man with stupid plans?" She puckered her brows._

"_I didn't say anything like that…" He grinned slyly._

_She wasn't that hammered to ignore that grin though. She would unhappily admit to the fact that she never really knew what all of his smiles meant, though she knew most of them. However this one confused her the most. Thus she swiftly squirmed out of his grasp._

"_What's wrong?" He reached to touch her again, she moved back scowling. _

"_Nothing… I don't know…" She truly didn't know what had her feeling so troubled._

_Oliver pondered silently for a moment and sighed, "Shall we get going then?"_

_She nodded and started to walk ahead of him._

_She heard his footsteps behind her and no other sound could ever make her feel as safe, she figured._

"_Stop!" She yelled, putting her hand up, remembering something._

"_What now?" He acted annoyed._

"_Follow me!" She ran frolicking in the way of the trees remembering something from her teenage days._

"_Felicity, where're you going?" He was following her._

"_You'll see…" She ran few more feet and stopped._

_Oliver was right beside her._

"_Look!" She pointed her finger at the abysmal black space in front of her, a plane of grass by the look of it._

"_What?" He was squinting attempting to figure out what she was trying to show him._

"_It's a small lake… It's a little paradise in the middle of nowhere…" She giggled and dragged him towards the dark plane that slowly revealed itself to be a fairly large body of water._

_The soles of their shoes made crisp sounds as they placed their feet upon the bit of soggy sand that lay amid the somewhat grassy ground._

_She stopped again, few feet in front of the place where the water met the grimy floor. _

_They were standing right beside each other facing the lake. _

"_It's a beautiful place…" Oliver took in a long deep breath. "You must've had a great time hanging out with your friends here, when you were in school?"_

_She turned to him outright crossed, "Have you seen this picture of me when I was in school?" She pointed at the badge she had pinned on her dress, "Does this look like a face of someone that had a lot of friends? And anyway this is where all the cool kids hung out in summer, which meant people who looked like this… weren't really invited!"_

_He bent his knees just enough to take a closer look at the badge and gripped the rim of it with just two fingers. "I don't know… I think you look cute…" _

_He may've been referring to the teenager on the badge, but she felt a blush come over her as if he had been referring to her twenty something self. "Well they didn't think so!" She pursed her lips at him, remembering all those times she would just walk around the lake hoping someone would notice her and call her to join in on the fun._

"_Well they were idiots!" He pursed his lips as if to mirror her expression._

_She dropped her purse to the ground and hurriedly took off the badge while Oliver looked on dumbfounded at why she was doing whatever she was doing._

"_Here," She was about to hand him her badge but it slipped from her fingers. She picked it up again with a hand full of soil and placed it on his palm, "Keep this safe for me, some guy told me I look cute in it," _

_He with a smile, dropped the badge into a pocket in his coat, with the soil and all._

_She turned her back to him and faced the lake. _

"_Whatever you're thinking of doing, don't!" He warned as if he had read her mind._

_She spun around to him and chuckled, "You stay here and take care of my purse and my badge!" She then ran at the water, taking off her shoes and throwing them behind her, "I'm going for a swim, I'm going to do what I've always wanted to do and you're not going to stop me!"_

"_I thought history was against Felicity Smoak swimming?" He shouted after her but she wasn't about to stop._

_She jumped in to the water, screaming as the first splash of cold water hit her skin. "Well, I'm not the same person I was then!" She started to peel her clothes off._

"_Felicity! What're you doing?" Oliver was standing on the bank, looking around to see whether there were any other people hanging about._

"_What?" She giggled senselessly watching her cloths get all soggy and float away from her._

"_Nothing…" He smirked, trying not to look directly at her._

"_Oh no!" She murmured, "It's too cold!" It had taken her bit too long to realize that she was actually freezing._

"_Then, come out!" He bawled at her._

"_I can't!" She was just standing there, keeping her head barely above the water, with her arms wrapped around herself. "I think I'm naked!"_

_After staring at her freezing form for a couple of seconds, Oliver took his coat off and darted into the water._

"_I'm cold…" She stammered as he guided her towards the shore, "May be… when we get back to the foundry, you can make me some of that herbal tea you're always drinking?"_

_He was dead quiet. _

_She could feel him cover her with something warm and she looked down and saw it was his coat._

"_Stay still…" He commanded and let go of her, only to go about looking for her purse that she'd asked him to keep safe. _

"_Ok!" She fell to the ground, unable to keep her fidgeting body straight without any support._

_"Felicity, are you alright?" He was on his knees sitting beside her._

_"Oliver?" She blinked to get the water out of her eyes._

"_Are you alright?" His hand pushed away her wet hair from her forehead_

"_Yes… a little cold, but I'll live…" She smiled, and hoped to see him smile, but her eyes were too tired to grasp much of anything._

"_That's great to hear," Something about the way he said the words, let her know he was smiling._

_Her teeth clenched together, but she tried to keep her smile going._

_But she forgot all about her smile the moment she saw his face dive towards her, for sadly it evoked her memory of 'The Brandon Cooper incident', "Why does this feel like Déjà vu?" _

"_Hmmm?" He was confused, but his sweet face came even closer. _"_Felicity," He said her name as if it had a greater meaning. _

_She felt her cold body suddenly warm up and she pulled her head up slowly, wanting to catch his expressions. But she had only managed to knock her lips on his accidentally. It took her a very embarrassing second to realize what she had done, "I'm sorry I'm drunk!" She shut her eyes in shame and luckily for her, her state of drunkenness didn't allow her to open them again._

"_Let's go find some place safe and warm…" She remembered him almost whisper to her while she drifted off to sleep._

* * *

Felicity paced within the bathroom of the Queen mansion, unconsciously playing with the round badge in her hand. What she had initially thought to be a mere dream had turned out be scrambled memories of her drunken mishaps and it made her feel rather restless. "Oh… no… what was I thinking?" She couldn't understand what was worse, accidentally kissing Oliver or Oliver seeing her naked. "Oh god!" She stared at the bathroom door, one hand on her hips the other rubbing the temple of her forehead, as if contemplating living inside the massive bathroom forever.

* * *

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**A/N:** **walkinthegardengnome, pumpedUPkics, matrim cuthon, Say-It, Jadiee, CQCRASH, LoneStar, Emanuela, Dianitachiva, Scotsfangirl, Ashira Storm and the three guests**… thanks for the wonderful reviews, I hope you weren't bored or disappointed about the way Felicity lost her clothes. I hope no one went 'was that it?' after reading the chapter. Sorry I couldn't put Walter in just yet because I didn't want the chapter to become any longer. :)

**Lil5weetie**- :D Apparently Oliver wants to continue with the charade so that Felicity can continue fooling Bernice and so that they don't have to look for silly excuses to explain what Felicity is always doing at verdant with him.

**GoChlollie ** - Hope you liked Moira's reaction ;)

**SamanthaFreita3**thanks so much for your two reviews as well. :)

Thanks to all of you… It's so late where I live and I'm going to sleep… Sorry for any mistakes you might have found… :D


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: **Sorry I couldn't update sooner. Thanks for the reviews and alerts and favorites…you all are wonderful!

* * *

**Chapter 10**

Felicity jerked hearing someone knock on the bathroom door.

Upon hearing the second knock, she quickly gathered her things that had been scattered on the floor and stuffed them back inside her purse.

"Miss Smoak?" A mousy voice asked.

After fumbling with the little lock for more than a couple of seconds, Felicity managed to open the door. "Mrs. Queen asked me to see whether you needed anything?" A petite young maid was standing in front of her.

Felicity draped her little purse on her shoulder and smiled at the girl, "No, I'm fine thank you," She walked past the maid feeling anything but fine, unsure how she was going to face Oliver in light of what she remembered now.

Felicity turned a few corners and arrived at the dining room, where she found just Thea sipping her water quietly and Moira sitting in the head seat of the large rectangular table, staring at her plate clearly dejected.

"Where's Oliver?" Felicity looked over at the mother and the daughter seeing that Oliver was nowhere in sight. She was partly relieved for she neither had to act like she had no recollection of last night's events or had to start a conversation that would only lead her being mocked and probably leave her absolutely mortified.

"He's waiting for you outside," Thea put her glass on the table and stood up as if she had something she wanted to say, but wasn't sure if she should.

"I guess I should get going then…" Felicity inhaled deeply before she decided to march across the room to get to the front door.

"Felicity," Moira Queen called her, "I tried to apologize to Oliver for my earlier behavior, but he doesn't want to listen to me. I hope you can talk to him for me, tell him that I know I was wrong?" She was nearly pleading.

Felicity slightly swallowed her lips, as she was uncertain how she could induce an undoubtedly infuriated Oliver, to see from his mother's perspective, especially when she herself was still astound by Moira Queen's sudden transformation. "I'll try," She mumbled.

Moira beamed in agreement and Felicity started to go in search of the nearest exit.

She felt quite relieved finally coming across the door, which would lead her out of the big mansion that seemed to suck all air out of her lungs every time she opened her mouth to say something. She was about to turn the knob but some other hand turned it for her instead. When she spun around to see who it was she found Thea standing next to her.

"I'm not sure what you and Ollie are trying to hide from us…" Thea frowned, still keeping her hand on the door knob, blocking Felicity.

Yet, Felicity stood strong trying not to let Thea catch the fact she indeed was hiding things that she couldn't actually ever imagine.

"But I also can see how different Ollie is around you… he's protective over you…" A smile came upon Thea's lips as she continued, "And I also can see how my mom has suddenly taken a liking to you… and she's not the kind of woman who changes her mind that quickly. So if I were you I'd be careful not to trust her… you do know she'd spent almost couple of years in jail, right?" Thea hissed, looking back as if to check her mother was behind her.

Felicity didn't know what to take of Thea Queen's friendly warning of sorts, "I think I better go… Oliver must be worried that one of you might've murdered me in the living room… not that he thinks that you would do that… I mean I don't think you would… but… I'm sorry I babble sometimes…"

Thea shook her head and smiled; her smile almost akin to one of Oliver's. "Nice to meet you too Felicity," She flung the door open and Felicity virtually jumped out calling 'freedom'.

The door closed behind her and she looked about for Oliver.

She heard an engine of a motorbike come surging towards her and discovered Oliver coming around towards the front porch on one of his new bikes, wearing a helmet. Her heart began to pound the closer he got to her remembering what had happened the night before. _"He doesn't know you know… he doesn't know you know," _She told herself, hoping that repeating those words would give her some courage to face him.

He tossed a helmet at her, "Let's go!"

"Where's Diggle?" She asked, barely catching the helmet.

Oliver turned the handle of the bike making the engine grumble louder. "He's at the Verdant. We got a lead on Lucas Young!"

They had been tracking Lucas Young's girlfriend, former porn star, Amelia Morgan's phone and emails for quite some time now and it seemed that they had finally managed to get a lead on his whereabouts.

Felicity with no more questions asked put the helmet on and got on to the back of his bike for it was no time to be worrying about how much of her did he really see last night.

"Hold on!" Oliver sped away the moment she put her arms around him.

The scenery beside whizzed past them as Oliver drove through the roads in a very unhealthy speed. Strands of her hair that had crept out from the helmet ran across her face and her dress fluttered madly as they darted through the traffic.

She shoved her face to his back and clung on to his clothes. "Oliver… I… I just remembered something!" It seemed as good a time as any to bring about her disastrous swimming venture, especially since she didn't have to really face Oliver, and if bad came to worse she thought she could always just jump off the bike.

"What?" He shouted taking a very sharp turn, making the tires screech and burn.

Apparently she wasn't as daring as she had thought, for she couldn't really find the words to tell him that she now knew how her clothes went about missing. Thus she did what she did best, babble some nonsensical facts, "Motorcycles… have a higher fatality ratio per unit of distance travelled, in comparison to other land vehicles… and…" She closed her eyes as Oliver narrowly evaded an incoming truck.

His head turned her way slightly for a fraction of a second as if to make sure she was still there hanging on to him, "And?" He enquired as he set his eyes back on the road.

The wheels rotated through some rough patches on the road and her voice began to vibrate to a strange rhythm, "And if you go any faster, we'll contribute greatly to those statistics!" She laid her head on his back, and she would swear that even amidst the chaotic sounds of the bike she could hear his heart beat as fast as hers.

He seemed to have increased the speed as if to further annoy her, "You trust your statistics more than me?"

She was an IT girl, data, statistics, numbers, codes, that was what she believed in, they were easier to comprehend, they were predictable, yet the question that she should've been able to answer very simply, seemed to pose more questions in her head than answers.

Feeling bizarrely conflicted she closed her eyes trying to think of something clever to say.

"Felicity?" His hands she noticed were trying to loosen her fingers that had been clutching onto his jacket.

She let him go and opened her eyes to learn that they were already parked in the alley behind the Verdant. "We're already here?"

Oliver simply helped her out of the bike and began to help her take her helmet off. Felicity did nothing but stare at his eyes, at his lips that she had bumped into last night.

Once the headgear was off, he tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear as coolly as ever, as if it were the norm. Then he began to walk towards their secret hideout while she stood unmoved caught up in some kind of a daze.

"Felicity!" He yelled and she quickly gathered herself and ran after him.

She walked in through the back door of the club determined not to bring up her fiasco by the lake, unless of course he brought it up; for then she'd have no choice but to talk of it, moreover defend her drunken self.

They were then standing by the door, which led to their den, waiting for it to open after punching in the secret code that unlocked the darn thing. Oliver was impatient; even that one second that took the door to open seemed to be getting on his nerves. Felicity's mind on the other hand was still wrapped up in everything that had happened between them, from the moment they met at the little cubicle at Queen Consolidated, to today, riding across the city with him on a motor bike.

A half a second later the door opened. "What took you guys so long?" Diggle turned from one of the swiveling chairs set in front of the computers. "I thought you two might've already gone off to your honeymoon!" Diggle taunted, munching on the last bit of some energy bar.

Felicity tossed her helmet and purse on to a chair, "You call flying across the city more than hundred miles per hour, taking too long?" Felicity countered, not even attempting to touch up on what Diggle had implied at the very end.

"So what do we have?" Oliver didn't seem interested in any of it, but only what was on the monitors.

Felicity took her usual seat in front of the computers.

"It seems Lucas Young is going to make an appearance at tonight's charity ball at the museum," Diggle increased the volume on the sound clip that had Lucas Young talking to his girlfriend.

"_Everything is going to work out honey, don't worry… I'm going to finish this job, and we both will be off to the Caribbean_," Lucas Young was trying to sooth her teed off girlfriend.

Yet in spite of Lucas' tries, Amelia still sounded rather angry, "_You better…" _She threatened.

As the three of them keenly listened in on the conversation; with Diggle sitting next to her and Oliver hovering behind her, Felicity felt that everything was back to normal, the way it was supposed to be, for there were no mentions of the tabloids, their engagement, her little striptease in the lake or her accidental kiss.

"_You don't worry about a thing sweetheart just wear that dress I gave you and show up at the museum looking gorgeous like you always do!" _Lucas laughed sleazily. _"I can't wait to kiss those lips of yours."_

Felicity shifted uncomfortably in her chair, the phone conversation bringing their lip lock to mind.

She looked behind at Oliver, at his lips which she had tasted inadvertently, but had tasted nonetheless.

"_See you at eight!" _Amelia hung up the phone, seemingly still furious at her man.

"Felicity?" Oliver raised his brows as he had caught her staring at his lips.

Her eyes flickered and she turned to Diggle sorting a means of escape, "Was there anything else Digg? Do we know, what's the job he's talking about?"

"All I know is whatever the job it is, it's going down at the museum tonight!" Diggle got up from his chair and leaned to the computer table so that he could have better view of Oliver and her.

"So looks like the three of us are going undercover to the Charity Ball then!" Felicity got up excited, for it had been a while since they all had gone on some big mission together, moreover she hated being stuck behind a desk knowing Oliver and Diggle were literally risking their lives.

"No! You're not going!" Oliver walked off, not even giving her a chance to say, why and how she would be of value to being on the field with them.

"Oliver…" She walked behind him.

"No! We don't even know what the man's up to. So you're not going and that's final!" Oliver had twirled around so quickly to face her, she almost bumped in to him.

"But… how can you show up to the charity ball all alone… I mean now that the whole world knows that Oliver Queen is engaged to Felicity Smoak?" It was no sound reason for her to be tagging along but it was worth a try she figured.

"She does have a point Oliver…" Diggle winked to let Felicity know she had his support.

"I thought you were all about coming clean and telling the world it wasn't true! Especially to my mom," Oliver retorted.

"Well seeing as we haven't told anyone the truth yet… '_Especially to your mom_,' who I'm sure will show up at the ball….I don't see that you have any other choice but to take me with you!" She raised a brow, feeling quite proud of her reasoning skills.

Yet he still seemed unconvinced and not willing to take her with them.

"Plus you owe me for bugging my apartment without my knowledge!" She battered her eyelids at the billionaire playboy cum the vigilante, a weapon she rarely used but had worked for her ninety one point five percent of the time.

"Fine! But you stay close and do as I say!" Oliver sighed, "And make sure that you stay away from the champagne, we wouldn't want a repeat of last night, would we?" He glared straight at her, his blue eyes twinkling with all forms of mischief.

She closed her eyes,hoping he would be gone when she opened them again, _"He doesn't know you know… he doesn't know you know…" _She tried to convince herself.

"Hey! That reminds me, you never did tell me how you ended up engaged and at that sleazy motel?" Diggle crossed his arms as he waited for the explanation.

Felicity opened her eyes and Oliver was still there, his lips lingering too close to her. "May be Oliver can tell you, because I can't remember!"

He watched her closely as if he knew that she had to be lying.

"What do you mean you can't remember?" Diggle shouted from afar, but neither seemed to care to answer.

"Let me tell you a little fun fact about Felicity, Digg… She's an excellent swimmer when she's drunk!" Oliver glanced at Diggle over Felicity's head.

"Digg, Let me tell you a little fun fact about Oliver Queen, He's an… He's an… egotistical Jerk!" Felicity spat the words out at Oliver and went past him almost shoving him to the side, "I got to go and find myself a dress for the ball!" She walked towards the door grabbing her purse on the way.

"So you really don't remember?" Oliver shouted after her.

She keyed in the secret code, annoyed at the little buttons on the door lock, "No! I don't!" She lied, stepping out of the room the instant the door was opened.

"What the hell happened between you two?" A much confounded Diggle was heard yelling from behind as Felicity quickly banged the door shut and started to walk off.

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**A/N: **I know nothing much happened this chapter, (And I couldn't introduce Walter to the story either) but I have some exciting things planned for the next one, I mean I think it will be exciting I've not even started to type yet…

**Finch, Lil5weetie, LoneStar, Jadiee, radiate689,****emily. ,****Emanuela, Laura, EllaChocolate,** Thanks for all the lovely reviews, I'm so thrilled to see that you loved the story… you all inspire me to write better

**bluebell-uk** Yay… you liked Moira and Diggle's reactions!

**cindyBamonRules** Thanks for all the reviews, I sent you a message about the time line … Anyway It's about after two years after the season 1 finale… and Tommy is dead… I was about to give him an appearance then I thought it would make the plot too complicated and will take the fun out of the story and by the way Laurel will appear next chapter. (hopefully)

**GreenPhoenix3,****walkinthegardengnome, SleazyforAnyWeasley, ****CQCRASH,****TwistedOwl, ** So so happy that you liked the memory part/ drunk Felicity I really enjoyed writing those scenes.

**Bluedragon81 and jessica-yuwono** Thanks for spotting the error for me and thanks for the review and I hoped you enjoyed this chapter too!

**Dianitachiva** I'm so happy that you enjoyed the romance scenes I loved writing them!

**Scotsfangirl**Thea seemed to have the same idea as you. we'll see what's the deal with Moira later, if it's genuine or not or whether Thea was just over reacting or whether she was just trying to scare Felicity.

**Ashira Storm** Thanks for the review and I actually thought about how long Moira may've been in jail after seeing your review so I put it as couple of years… thinking she had very good lawyers and connections.

**Thanks for the guest reviewers as well**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: **Hi, here's another update, again it came off a bit too long and I also couldn't put all the things I was planning in to this chapter. So the ball scenes will continue to the next chapter too. Hope you enjoy reading! Thanks for the reviews, Alerts, and Favourites! :D Again sorry for any mistakes you may find.

_**matrim cuthon** – I hope this isn't as angsty as the last one, but sometimes I can't help myself._

_**Laura** – Hope you liked the ball scenes, it's not over yet..._

_**Emanuela**- Hope you got to read before you went off to your Internet-less vacation…_

_**Ashira Storm,**** morrigan75, ****CQCRASH,****The Wonderful Mistique, ****Jadiee, radiate689,**** Dianitachiva** – thanks so much for reviewing, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter too._

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**Chapter 11**

Felicity envied Diggle and Oliver, for most of the time when they had to go on some kind of a mission, especially those which required them to mingle with the idle rich, unlike them she would always have to be in heels, in very painful high heels.

"So, you got everything?" Diggle helped her on to the elevator of her apartment and pressed the big green button that would take them to the ground floor.

Felicity mentally checked all the things that she should have with her for the mission, the trackers, her phone, earphone, secret microphone and so on and so forth. "Yup, all ready to catch one crazy bandit!" She sang.

Lucas Young had been a menace to the city for quite some time now. He, who within the undergrounds of the glades was infamous for his prank like robberies, was often referred to as '_The Young Bandit'_. He had a very extensive record that spanned from petty theft to large scale bank heists, and it was not until recently they had learnt that Lucas Young was indeed merely a henchman who had someone, presumably someone in a position of power aiding him. The only means they had in unmasking who actually ran the dealings was to get Lucas Young first, hence the undertaking that was about to take place tonight.

The elevator dinged and its doors opened.

They walked into the fairly uninhabited car park, where Oliver waited for them.

From a far Felicity could see Oliver, looking as dashing as ever standing, leaning on to the limo.

Diggle was walking in front of her and she could scarcely make out Oliver's expression, but somehow she saw him straighten himself seeing them come his way. She could swear she saw his eye become bluer the moment his eyes caught hers.

Always try to say something amusing when tense, that was what her father used to say, "So do I fit the bill of the future Mrs. Queen?" She was all too late when she remembered that trick never did work out well for her.

"I guess I'll be waiting in the car…" Diggle rolling his eyes put on that snarky smile he seemed to have gotten all too well acquainted with for the past couple of days and got into the driver seat.

Oliver took few steps towards her so that there were no more than a feet of distance between them, "I don't know… it seems to me like you're missing something,"

"What?" She looked down at herself, her chiffon, floor-length gold evening Dress. "Before you say anything you should know, you bought me this dress and these god forsaken shoes to go on our last mission… and to which you so conveniently forgot to take me!"

"It's not the dress," He addressed immediately and stared, frowning at her face as if whatever was the problem was actually written on her face.

"What? I've got my ear piece… here.." She lifted the curl that had kept her ear hidden, thinking he was now worried over something to do with their operation.

"No… that's not it!" He almost cracked a smile.

Felicity scoffed, unable to understand what he was aiming to say or do, "Well whatever it is, you can tell me in the car, because we're getting late!" She went past him to get to the limo.

Suddenly she felt herself being pulled back and turned around by her left hand.

"You can't look like the future Mrs. Queen without an engagement ring, can you?" He slipped a rather expensive looking ring onto her ring finger.

The well cut diamond on the ring reflected the little light in the parking lot and sparkled in her hand, and she looked up at him, petrified.

"And, _now_ you fit the bill of future Mrs. Queen!" He smiled and let her hand go. "Perfectly…" he trailed off, beaming at her.

Her hand was still in midair, unsteady as the images of him planting the ring on her finger replayed on her head, as their last night's kiss flashed in front of her eyes, as the way he practically carried her naked body ashore circled on her mind, "I... I can't wear this! You shouldn't have… Oliver this is too..."

"Expensive? I knew you would say that and that's why I got you a fake one," He explained, his eyes dissecting her every move.

"Oh? It's a fake?" She didn't want to seem disappointed, but she was, "I guess it's fitting… I mean, everything is fake isn't it? The engagement, you and I... everything…" She stared at the shiny thing on her hand. She wasn't a materialistic person, yet she didn't know why she felt so thwarted learning it wasn't the real thing.

Diggle pulled the shutter down and cleared his throat, "Hate to break this to you two love birds, but we've got to get to the museum before Lucas Young runs away with whatever he's planning to steal this time!"

Diggle's words reminded Felicity that she had bigger things to worry about than just some ring.

Felicity turned on her heel, opened the limo door and slid on to the seat on the other end, trying not to let her eyes stray towards Oliver, not even for a second.

She felt the weight of the seat shift as Oliver sat next to her. She sat resolute on not looking at him or the fake ring on her hand.

They then rode quietly through the traffic, the little things they did talk was about their assignment at hand and nothing else, not about their kiss, not about her skinny dipping, not about the fake ring Oliver not too long ago had put on her finger. She should be happy that none of the embarrassing topics had made their way in to the conversation, but the truth was she wasn't even close to feeling happy.

They were closing in on the Museum, and even from where they were they could all see the glitz and the glamour that fenced the usually dismal Museum grounds.

"So everyone know what they're supposed to do? You have your phone? " Oliver enquired.

Felicity flashed her phone at his face "Yes!" She answered very simply and looked out the window, at the line of limousines that were ahead of them.

Oliver tapped on Felicity's shoulder, "And Felicity, there're going to be lot of paparazzi out there. They'll ask you a lot of things, don't answer any of them! Just hold my hand and follow my lead… and don't get scared by the flash lights… there will be a lot of them…"

"I think I'm more than capable of handling a little light on my face! It's not like having a bomb collar around my neck, Is it?" Felicity grinned mockingly, reminding him of the particulars of what had happened the first time they were on the field, a kind of danger she had managed to steer away from since then, thanks to Diggle's training of course.

Oliver smiled a little, "I know you can handle it, but I just thought I should tell you so that you won't be caught off guard,"

"Thanks," She said with a genuine smile.

"Ok guys, I'm going to drop you two off now," The car slowed down and then stopped in front of the museum entrance.

Someone opened the door for them, and Oliver buttoned his coat and got out.

He was then standing there waiting to help Felicity out. She checked her dress and made sure she had all the necessary things and slowly went towards the opened door. Oliver held his hand out and she with his help got out of the car.

"And one more thing Felicity…" Oliver whispered to her ear, he somehow had her pressed against the limo holding her by her waist.

She could hear the cameras click like crazy, she could feel the heat of the blinding flash lights that went on and off on her face. Yet her eyes were undisturbed by the lights and were wide opened as if she'd seen a strange dream.

"What?" She felt every bone in her body tremble, her knees go weak, and not having her glasses to hide behind, did her no good either.

"I didn't want you to go on and on about how stupid I was being, that's why I told you it was fake, it's real, it's very much real," His warm breath tingled in her ear, "Hundred percent real," He looked at her as if he had been yearning to see her face, for a million years.

Her brain told her he was only talking about the ring but her heart that erratically pounded against her chest, seemed eager to give a quite different meaning to his words.

He kissed her left cheek, his lips almost gracing the corner of her parted ones.

Her eyes shied away and cast themselves down.

She guessed he was merely playing to the audience, yet she could feel a smile taking over her; feel the corners of her lips quiver. "So why are you telling me this now? Aren't you afraid I'll go on and on about it now?" She wasn't sure if he had heard her for she had barely managed to make any sound.

"No, not now…" Oliver took her hand and placed a kiss on top of her ringed finger.

The paparazzi and the media seemed to be having the best time ever, for there were cheers all around, and they were calling their names frantically, asking them to turn around so that their little moment could be captured better.

She couldn't understand what made him think she wouldn't reject the ring now, but either way he was right, she now couldn't reject it, for some unexplainable reason she just couldn't. Thus she simply beamed and agreed with him.

"Stay close to me," He took her hand and led her towards the steps that stood before the museum entrance.

She walked along with him, almost hiding behind his arm to evade all the flashing lights.

"Is it true you've been together for more than two years?" Someone shouted, "Is it true you were hiding it because your mother was against it?" Another one asked.

"You knocked her up right?" Someone in the crowd yelled out.

Oliver stopped dead in his tracks, his grip on her hand tightened.

"Oliver, let's just keep walking," She cooed into his ear, squeezing his hand.

He looked over at her, and she could see his face slowly relax, feel his grip become loose. "It's not worth it," She smiled at him.

He then quietly looked straight back ahead and marched forward, hand in hand.

"Invitation please," a guard called from behind as they were about to enter the museum.

Oliver turned back and the guard began to stutter, "Oh Mr. Queen I didn't see that it was you… you can go on ahead,"

Oliver grinned snobbishly at the man before he entered the museum along with Felicity.

The ball was being held on the second floor. There were exhibits of precious gems from all over the world, placed in different corners of the room. Each gem was protected by a glass case that was probably wired to sound off an alarm if they had been disturbed. In addition, they've kept a guard next to each of the cases.

"It looks like Lucas Young wouldn't find it that easy to take his prize this time around," Felicity muttered.

"Let's hope so," Oliver answered looking around, "Diggle where are you?" he lowered his head unintentionally, wanting to talk to the mouth piece set on his collar.

"_I'm on my way… I'm just coming through the back… just checking to see if our target has set up something, may be an exit plan,"_ Diggle's voice rang in Oliver and Felicity's ears.

"Right… we'll look for Amelia!" Felicity twirled around in one spot hoping to catch the sight of Amelia Morgan or hopefully the 'Young Bandit' himself. However, the biggest problem in catching him was he never showed up as himself, he was a master of disguise, thus the best chance they got in identifying the man was to seek out with whom and how Amelia interacts. Even those whom Amelia would make the even the slightest eye contact with, was to be considered a possible suspect.

"Seems like Amelia still hasn't arrived yet," Oliver stated, still scanning the room.

Felicity checked the time from her phone. "Well, she said eight and it's still seven fifty…"

"Let's go and sit there…" Oliver pointed at a lesser crowded corner, and they both walked through the crowd that began to hush their names as if it were some kind of a disease that shouldn't be talked of loudly.

They sat in some table reserved for people they've never heard of, delegates from some country most probably Oliver may have not have known ever existed.

There was a glass of wine, champagne, water kept for each seat. As Felicity stared at the little bubbles on the champagne rise up and fade, she was once more reminded of her drunken misadventures. She hurriedly shook her head to try and forget it, she wanted to keep it off her head at least until the mission was over.

"I'll just scan around for a little bit," Oliver got up from his seat, "Stay here! Stay alert!" The way his eyes glowered meant it was a very strict order.

She nodded, and he, after passing one last stare walked into the crowd in the middle of the room.

Felicity tapped her fingers on the table as she skimmed the crowd for any looming danger, and sadly spotted a very different kind of danger slither her way from the other corner of the large ball room.

It was Moira Queen; Felicity saw her waving her hand at her, as if she was a long lost friend. At first Felicity looked behind her failing to understand that Moira Queen was actually waving at her and not someone else. It was after finding out that there was no one else but the white wall behind her, she felt cornered by the middle aged woman, "Mayday! Mayday! Little Bird about to be in distress, approximately in two minutes," She spoke to her microphone set in her dress.

"_What? Who's Little Bird? Did you see Lucas_?" Felicity heard Oliver through the earphone.

"_I'm almost there!"_ Diggle sounded breathless as he spoke via the microphone strapped to him. He seemed to have started running hearing Felicity's distress call.

"No... Not the Young Bandit… the Ice Queen is approaching me, I mean 'Little Bird'… in less than one and a half minutes," Felicity mumbled looking at Moira Queen who was coming her way with a wide spread smile.

"_Felicity! What are you talking about?"_ Oliver was muttering at his transmitter, obviously irritated.

"_Oh it's just your mother!" _Diggle said, appearing from the back entrance of the hall.

"_Ice Queen? Really?" _Oliver seemed highly amused.

She exhaled loudly, feeling somewhat relieved seeing Moira Queen temporarily distracted by some old man in a penguin suit. "Sorry, about that…" Felicity uttered.

"_And when did we agree to call you, 'Little Bird'_?" There was a jovial tone to Oliver's voice, and it sounded as though he had forgiven her for the name calling.  
Felicity looked to her left and saw Oliver standing in the middle of the crowd with a smile on his face, just as she had thought, "When you were trying to kill that punching bag few weeks ago, I was bored… and I told Digg we should come up with code names so that we can use them instead of our real ones," Felicity turned to her right to where Diggle was.

"_Oliver, in my defense let me just say that, I've had few beers that night," _Diggle quickly added and it seemed he was adjusting his microphone for his voice sounded a bit scrambled.

"_So what name did you come up with for Digg?" _Oliver was smiling still.

"_Don't you dare say it Felicity!" _ Diggle's threatening voice resonated in her ear.

"Big Bird!" Felicity answered quite proudly.

Diggle was muttering something in such a faint voice the microphone couldn't quite catch any of it.

"_And for me?"_ Oliver sounded very hopeful.

"Angry Bird?" Felicity quickly squeaked into her receiver, wincing, scared of what Oliver's response may be.

"_Ok, Amelia just walked in_," But thankfully Oliver didn't have time to reply for he had located Amelia.

Felicity stretched her neck out to catch the sight of the blonde, and quite surprisingly the blonde was clinging on to a very old man, who could barely walk, "Do you think the creepy old man with the former porn star could be the Young Bandit?"

Oliver whispered, "_It looks too… obvious! But let's keep an eye on him_, _just to make sure_,"

Felicity watched as Oliver tactfully bumped into the old man, "_I'm so sorry… I didn't see you there_," Oliver excused himself.

She then noticed the two, blue and red dots that suddenly appeared and began to blink on the screen of her mobile phone, for Oliver had managed to plant the trackers, one on the old man, and the other on Amelia.

"Two trackers activated and ready to be tracked." She watched the two dots move a bit and settle on one position as Amelia and her date had settled themselves in a table next to the main entrance.

Felicity had been so engrossed in tracing their suspects she was taken aback when she felt someone put a hand on her shoulder.

"Let's dance," Oliver was standing behind her, still his hand resting on her shoulder, which only had the very thin strap of clothing that helped keep her dress on her.

She pointed at her mobile phone, the two immobile dots. "But what about this?" It looked like the old man and Amelia wasn't about to go anywhere any time soon, yet she was merely looking for an excuse, for she really just didn't want to dance, for one she considered herself a very poor dancer, and two after remembering what she had done last night, being in such proximity with Oliver scared her.

"Diggle will keep an eye on them," With his eyes Oliver gave a signal to Diggle who was secretly coasting towards Amelia's table. "If we want people to believe we're just here to have a good time, not to spy on some porn star and his boyfriend, I think we better act the part, unless of course, you want to sit here and have a nice chat with the Ice Queen?" Oliver glanced to his left, to point out to the fact that his mother was almost on her way.

"Let's dance!" Being laughed at for her bad dancing was better than talking to Moira Queen she felt, "But first, I need a drink!" She picked up the glass of red wine and finished it in record time.

"I thought we agreed no more drinks for Little Bird after what happened last night?" He narrowed his eyes at her and he almost pulled the glass out of her hand.

She put the glass back on the table, "For your information I didn't agree to anything and that was not champagne, it was red wine! And it was just one glass anyway,"

Oliver took her hand somewhat forcefully and took her towards the dance floor.

They began to sway, as the rest of them.

"_From what I've heard, our Little Bird turns in to a quite an Adventurous Bird just after a few drinks_," Diggle laughed into the transmitter.

"You told him?" She gasped, "You told him, that I went all coo-coo and went skinny dipping in the middle of the night? And kissed you by mistake?" She blasted at Oliver, forgetting Diggle could hear everything.

"_You did what?" _Diggle screamed in her ear, "_Oliver, only told me that you hacked into the FBI database drunk and destroyed some poor girl's car seat…. and told someone that he was your fiancé!"_

If there was a moment in her life she ought to be struck by lightning and die it was now, she figured, for not only she had disclosed all the embarrassing details to Diggle, she had inadvertently revealed the fact she had remembered every little thing about what happened at the night of her high school reunion.

"So you do remember kissing me?" Oliver pulled her closer as they danced.

She wriggled wanting to have some space between them, "It was an accident!"

"Not the way I remember it," Oliver's took her hands and draped them over his shoulder before he glided his hands through the frame of her body and let them settle right above her hips.

"_Is this the point where I should start to pretend like I can't actually hear you two, because I'm too busy spying?"_ Diggle asked, with a little discomfited laugh.

Felicity hadn't ever been so annoyed with herself, "It's not like what you think Digg… I was drunk!"

"_Uh hmm… why don't I just pretend not to hear anyway…" _ With that no other noise came from Diggle's microphone, the line sounded almost dead.

"So that's your excuse for shoving your face into mine?" Oliver retorted.

"I don't remember you pulling back either?" She stared at him sharply.

"How could I? You were grabbing on to my hair!" He spun her around, and returned to their previous stance, but somehow their lips had ended up closer to each other than before.

She looked away, to make sure her lips didn't end up crashing into his once more. "I was not!" She protested, though she was not actually sure where her hands exactly were at that moment, when she had kissed him, accidentally. "May be I thought you were Brandon?" She looked back at him, for she thought she'd found herself a loophole.

"Nope!" he was grinning like an idiot, "I distinctively remember you saying my name right before you took advantage of me!" He prodded her around the dance floor to the beat of the song.

"I took advantage of you? I was the one who was drunk! If anything you may've taken advantage of me and I may've been just too drunk to remember it now," Felicity stomped her foot on Oliver's may be by mistake or she meant it, but either way it didn't seemed to matter to him for he didn't even flinch.

He smiled arrogantly and leaned to her ear, "If I'd done anything of the sort, of what I think you're accusing me of doing, I'm more than sure, you'll remember it!" His grip on her waist became harder as he pushed her back just to glare at her. "I wouldn't have let you forget it," He sort of muttered under his breath and it was almost inaudible, as if he had never meant for it to be heard by anyone, but the microphone captured just enough of it make Felicity feel a bit too tipsy to be standing there with him.

She stared at him, biting on the side of her lower lip, feeling things she really shouldn't be, "I think you're right… I really shouldn't have drunk that glass of wine. I think I feel a bit dizzy,"

Oliver looked suddenly distracted by something, "What? I'm sorry did you say something Felicity?" His stare was not on her anymore, but somewhere far across the room.

When Felicity followed his stare she understood perfectly, why Oliver suddenly seemed uninterested in what she was saying, for Laurel Lance had arrived, with a date, a man Felicity had never seen before.

"I didn't know she was dating anyone…" Oliver stopped their little dance, "Who's he?"

Felicity turned around to get a better look at Laurel Lance and her date, "Darn it, I guess… You should've bugged her apartment too…" She scorned, putting on a rather pretentious smile and she had his attention again.

"I told you I was just looking out for you…" Oliver scowled.

She grumbled at his reasons for invading her privacy and his eyes in no time fell back on to his ex-girlfriend.

"Do you think he could be the Young Bandit? Look at him! There's something weird about him." Oliver suggested moving forward towards the couple who were too involved in some conversation to notice anyone around them.

"Just because you didn't get to do a background check on the guy and you haven't seen him before, it doesn't automatically make your ex-girlfriend's current date a crook," Felicity checked her phone, the two dots, that indicated that Amelia and the old man to be still sitting where they were few minutes ago.

When Felicity looked back up at Oliver, he was still staring at the couple. "But it won't hurt to keep an eye on him, right? Diggle are you there?"

Diggle seemed to have taken his earphone off.

"I guess…" She pondered over it for a second, "Why don't you ask Laurel to dance and find out more about her date, while I go and plant a tracker on him,"

"I'm not so sure that it's a good idea…" He looked over at Diggle and secretly motioned him to put his earphone back on.

With a little nod, Diggle followed Oliver's orders.

"It's a great idea come let's go meet them! Let's not pretend like you've not been dying to know about her date the moment they step into the room and that it has nothing to do with the Young Bandit!" She started to forcefully drag him towards his ex-girlfriend.

He tried to stay anchored in the middle of the dance floor, but she drew him out of the crowd with all her might. "Why are you doing this Felicity?" He put a smile on discovering that Laurel had noticed them heading their way.

Felicity gave him no answers, for she didn't have any. She didn't know why she was practically throwing Oliver at Laurel, whether it was anger, jealousy, whether she just wanted them to resolve their matters once and for all, and be done with it or whether it was all of those reasons, she wasn't that sure.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: **There's a bit of action in this chapter... and it's the last time you see so much action scenes... from next chapter on wards more romance.. I promise... unless you like all the action stuff...

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**Chapter 12**

After the initial greetings, and all the awkward smiles, it took many an urging from Felicity, which was given in the form of little nudges on Oliver's arm, to finally make him follow through with her plan and ask Laurel to dance.

As Oliver danced away, with supposedly the love of his life, Felicity took the seat beside Laurel's date, who Laurel had introduced as 'Gavin Fischer'.

"So what did you say you do?" Felicity glared at the dark haired man, who now she too like Oliver had begun to believe seemed a touch too peculiar for some reason.

"I'm a writer… and don't bother looking up for me or my books on the Internet. My books are not that famous and I use a pen name." Gavin answered, as if he had realized that Felicity was just about to load the web browser on her phone to find more information on him.

"They seem to be very close friends…" Added Gavin, his brown eyes staring at the way Oliver and Laurel were dancing.

While Gavin Fischer gaped at his date dance, Felicity was quick to place a tracker on the man's coat, "Yeah… they are…" She simply answered glancing back at the couple, her fake fiancé and her fake fiancé's ex-girlfriend. They were both talking and she could clearly hear what they were saying through the receiver in her ear.

"_So when I met you two at the bar that day… long time ago… was Felicity really setting up your router, or was it some metaphor for something else you two have been doing in that basement?" _Laurel's cheeky words made Felicity listen in eagerly and look upon them with a raised eyebrow, very keen to find out how Oliver would go about answering it.

Oliver took a brief moment to respond, as if he needed time to think about what the metaphor could actually stand for, _"She really was setting up the router, there was nothing going on between us then,"_ He flashed a smile, peeping at her over his ex-girlfriend's shoulder.

In truth from where Felicity was sitting she thought it looked as though Oliver was glancing at her every other second.

"How did you two meet? You and Oliver…" Gavin questioned Felicity, sipping on his drink, his glass free hand drawing some pattern on the table.

Felicity glowered at the invisible shape Gavin was sketching, "You know, the same way every IT girl meet their Millionaires. He comes to your office with a broken laptop and the rest is history…" She beamed at the man beside her, and in her ear she could hear a faint smirk, courtesy Oliver Queen. He had been eavesdropping on her story of how they first met, minus the bullet holes.

"_Why are you smiling?" _Laurel was asking Oliver.

"_Nothing… I just remembered something…" _Oliver sounded as if he was trying to swallow his smile.

The memories of their first meeting, plastered a very visible grin on to Felicity's face as she went about her mission of grilling Laurel's date, "What kind of books do you write?" She coolly took the champagne glass that was set in front of her, and began to take a sip, just for the sake of looking like she was simply trying to carry a casual conversation as she enjoyed her drink, not because she was mining for info from a man who could possibly turnout to be the Young Bandit.

Gavin placed his glass back on the table. "Mostly crime novels, but these days I'm particularly interested in the 'Hood'… 'The Arrow' or 'Green Arrow', whatever they call him… I'm thinking of basing my next book on him,"

Felicity almost spitted out the bit of champagne she had just tasted, "Really?" She barely managed to say as she placed the glass back where it was.

"Yeah… Laurel has been helping me with that… she has met him a few times… Did you know that?" The writer looked very excited about his new subject.

"No?" She acted surprised, intrigued even, but her stare fell on Oliver, who surely had to have heard their conversation.

"_How did you say you met Gavin?"_ Oliver was jump starting his own interrogation session.

"_My dad introduced him to me… few days ago. He wanted to know about the hood… and I offered my help…"_ Laurel was looking over at Gavin before Oliver spun her not once but twice to a little impromptu piece played by the band.

"What do _you_ think of the vigilante? I hear that people are now calling him a hero…" Gavin leaned towards Felicity, and muttered close to her ear.

Felicity felt something stir deep within her, some microprocessor in her brain go berserk, "He _is_ a hero! Every day he puts his life on the line to protect the people in this city!" The little low growl like sound that came from Oliver's end made Felicity's heart run even faster, for then only she realized she may've been more than a little passionate answering the question.

"You sound like you actually know him!" Gavin laughed, and Felicity laughed along as if she too had found her reaction to be funny.

"_Tread carefully Little Bird…_" As if a voice of a guardian angel Diggle warned her in her ear.

Fixing the gold hair pin she had pinned to the lock of hair just above her right ear, she tried to improve upon her answer, "You don't have to know him to know what good he has done to the city, you can just pick up a paper and read!" She made a face, unconsciously so, feeling as if she had failed, feeling as if she was being interrogated rather than she being the interrogator. "Enough about the man wearing the green make up…" She wanted to take control, wanted to divert the writer's attention, "Is there anything going on between you and Laurel… I mean…"

"Not really… she needed a date… and I… I… didn't have any plans tonight." Gavin's wily eyes bobbed around as if he was trying to hide his expression, giving away the fact that he definitely had some kind of a plan. However, whether it was to steal a precious gem or whether it was just the hope of ending up in bed with his beautiful date Laurel, at the end of the night or something else altogether, Felicity couldn't tell. Still, she knew there was indeed some kind of an agenda on his mind.

Instinctively she reached out and once more grabbed the glass of champagne. She took a big gulp of it, trying to read the man sitting next to her.

"_Amelia just gave some kind of a signal… to a guard…"_ Diggle informed, and both Felicity and Oliver directed their focus onto where Amelia was.

There was a definite transaction between Amelia and the guard and before the rather sturdy looking man hurriedly moved in the way of an exit, he looked about as if he was on the lookout for somebody.

"_I'm going after him," _Diggle stated.

Upon hearing the news, Felicity looked at Oliver for instructions, to see if she should abandon Gavin and see what help she could offer Diggle or if she should just keep a look out for any other suspicious activities.

Thankfully, Oliver had not failed to notice her alarmed face, _"Shall we go back to our table?" _He was asking, letting go of her dance partner.

Laurel stood crossing her arms, pretending to be infuriated by the fact that he had abruptly stopped dancing._ "Got bored of me already?"_

"_No it's just… that"_ He was stuttering_._

"_No need to explain Oliver… I can see that you can't wait to get back to her… you were dancing with me but I could see that your mind was actually on her,"_ Laurel with a knowing smile began to saunter back to their table.

Oliver was following his ex-girlfriend as she made her way back to the table, his eyes glued on her, not on his ex-girlfriend but on her, his IT girl, as if he had something important to say to her and it seemed it had nothing to do with 'The Young Bandit'.

"Is everything alright?" Gavin had detected the sudden change in Felicity's mood.

"Yeah…" She put on a smile, her eyes still cast up on the couple approaching her.

"Gavin, I hope you're up for a bit of dancing?" Laurel stood in front of the table, one hand on her hips, and the other stretched forward, expecting to be caught by her date.

"Always…" Gavin got up, and grabbed Laurel's waiting hand, "See you later Felicity, it was really nice to meet you… both of you…" He walked away with his date to the dance floor.

Felicity caught Laurel sneaking a glance over at her as they strolled away. Her eyes were sad, her forehead was creased, and her lips were adorning a smile which seemed exceedingly forced.

Oliver pressed on the receiver on his ear hoping to get a better reception, "Diggle what's going on?"

"_He's going towards the lift," _Diggle answered in a subdued voice, as if telling a secret.

"Shouldn't we go help him?" Felicity grasped Oliver's arm, exhorting him to go help their friend.

Oliver nodded, his hand reassuringly patting on Felicity's hand that was holding onto him, "I'll go and check it out and you stay here… keep an eye on Amelia, and her date…"

She released him, "Aren't you forgetting about Laurel's date?"

"Yes, keep an eye on Gavin too!" Hearing some loud sounds, possibly of Diggle tackling the guard, Oliver hurriedly moved through the sea of people, some who were dancing and some who were pointlessly standing about the ballroom.

"Be careful…" Felicity mumbled secretly, staring at Oliver's fading back.

"_I will…"_ He had heard her via the headset.

Yet before Oliver could set a foot outside the ballroom, a message came from Diggle, _"He's a decoy! He doesn't seem to know anything."_

Felicity could see Oliver stop and turn back, and she hastily set her eyes on her phone to check whether there was any movement on the trackers they had set.

"Someone please help! I think he's having a heart attack!" A woman's screams silenced the hall.

When Felicity looked up, she realized that it was none other than Amelia Morgan. She was standing next to her date and the old man was sitting on his chair looking quite pale, holding onto his chest.

People were gathering around their table and someone who claimed to be a doctor rushed towards the old man. "No need to panic… or call nine-one-one he just needed his medication!" The doctor concluded giving him some pills he had taken out from the old man's jacket.

While Oliver stood where he was, studying the situation from afar, Felicity caught the site of Moira Queen sitting few feet away from the crowd, looking quite shaken.

In that little time it took Felicity to look up at the ongoing situation and look down at the three dots on her mobile phone, she learned one of the dots to be moving, more precisely Gavin's. "The writer is on the move…" She notified, and the more she stared at the dancing dot on her phone she came to realize that Gavin was actually progressing towards her.

It was just a moving dot; it was just Gavin Fischer, the pseudo-anonymous author of books unknown. He may be simply coming around just to say, 'Hi' to her again, but she looked at Oliver for her intuition told her that something was not quite right.

"Hello again," Gavin's voice called from the back.

Felicity spun around casually as she had seen him to be standing behind her from her phone, "Where's your date?" She asked, her voice had turned tentative upon catching Gavin's strange stare.

"_Felicity?" _Oliver had read the concern in her voice and had begun to slowly swim through the large crowd that stood staring at the old man, who looked to be slowly recovering.

Gavin pointed at the crowd with his eyes, "She's gone to help save the old man I guess, She's got a bit of a hero complex, just like you and your fiancé," He caught Felicity violently by her forearm and started to steer her forward with something that felt like a barrel of a gun pointed on her back, "Be quiet," He muttered, his foul breath irritating the skin on the back of her neck.

"_Felicity, what's going on?" _Oliver was asking, and she could see him, he was on his way pushing people aside.

However, Oliver wasn't quick enough, for Gavin was dragging her farther away, out of the hall.

"Is that a gun?" It was, Felicity's way of letting Oliver know that Gavin wasn't unarmed. "Let go of me or you'll be sorry!" She warned, purposefully dropping the phone so that Oliver could use it if Gavin was to take her somewhere unknown.

"_Oliver? What's happening there? Is Felicity alright?" _Felicity could hear Diggle snarl_._

As Gavin took her to the elevator that was set around the corner from the ball room,Felicity heard Oliver answer back, _"I think Gavin is Lucas Young!"_

Gavin shoved Felicity into the elevator, the gun still prodding on her back.

"Stop! Felicity!" Oliver came running, but the door was slowly closing on him.

"Oliver!" Felicity cried looking through the little gap still left between the two elevator doors that were just about to seal shut.

Gavin waved his hand bidding farewell to Oliver and the door shut completely.

"_Don't worry Felicity I'm coming!"_ Oliver's voice comforted her, and it reminded her how much she really loved having his soothing voice in her ear.

Felicity's used her free hand to try and get herself released from Gavin's strong grip, "Why are we going to the fourth floor?" She asked loudly, to make sure Oliver knew where they were heading, just in case he hadn't picked up her phone off the ballroom floor or the phone hadn't survived the drop.

Gavin took his gun from her back and ran it across her jaw line, "You see Felicity, I was never expecting to meet the hood and his gang today… so I had to revise my plan, just a little bit,"

She froze; her hand that had been trying to get herself free from Gavin's grasp retreated. He had mentioned something about a 'hero complex' earlier but in the haze of things Felicity hadn't quite picked up on it, but now she knew that Gavin wasn't simply trying to take some hostage; he wasn't simply trying to take Oliver Queen's fiancé captive, but also one of the vigilante's sidekicks.

"Don't look so surprised? You're not the only one who's good at a bit of research sweetheart… and the bit of info I got from Laurel only helped to prove I was right about the hood all along! Or should I say Oliver Queen," He winked as the elevator doors opened, "And by the way you can call me Lucas Young…" He tugged her out of the elevator.

The fourth floor of the Starling city museum had rows and rows of glass walled rooms that displayed models of men and women from different eras, marking the human evolution and progression of different cultures. The way the realistic looking dummies stared back at Felicity, offering no help what so ever, made her feel absolutely helpless and alone.

Thus she wanted to remind Lucas Young and herself, Oliver was on his way and he wouldn't fail her, "Do you really think that you can get away with whatever you're planning to do?"

"I always do…" The Young Bandit stopped in front a model of an Eskimo that was placed outside of one of the glass cubicles.

"Cocky much?" Felicity spat, trying to act as if she didn't hear Oliver's footsteps scurry their way up the stairs.

Lucas reached out and took something that had been hidden inside the Eskimo's bulky clothing. "Very…" He grinned rather arrogantly staring at the black rubbery object he now held in his hand.

With closer inspection Felicity learnt that it was a gas mask, but why he needed it she couldn't comprehend.

"I see I've got you all curious now…" Gavin aka Lucas Young uttered putting the mask on.

The sound of Oliver's footsteps that now seemed to be roaming closely behind, made Felicity feel relieved, but of course it was not just her that had heard Oliver come for her. Lucas too had sensed Oliver loom behind him. Thus he spun Felicity around so that he was standing behind her. He kept his gun pointed at her head while he began to walk backwards, dragging her along, being mindful of Oliver who crept towards them.

"Hurt her, and you die!" Oliver roared standing few yards away.

Diggle too showed up from another entrance, blocking the path Lucas was about to take. "You can't run from us!" He said pointing a gun.

Lucas breathed loudly through the mask, "Watch me!" His muffled voice said as he ran towards the dark passage to his left, tugging Felicity with him.

Oliver and Diggle were close on their trail, but laughing as though he had some master plan, Lucas Young kept going through the ill lit path.

There were exhibits placed on either side of them, mostly those that revealed the great artistry and ingenuity of the great Roman Civilization.

Priceless artwork were kept possibly in specially wired platforms while mock ups just hung about freely upon walls and stood idly on glass stands.

"Let her go!" Oliver demanded.

Unexpectedly Lucas stopped, right under the doorway; the cold barrel of the gun still thrusting on Felicity's head, "Ready to have some fun?" He laughed, looking at Oliver and Diggle who stood few feet away from him.

"Just be glad that my bow couldn't fit into this stupid suit!" Oliver's eyes were searching for something that may help him devise some form a plan that could get her away from the gun.

"As you wish!" Lucas threw her at one of the artifacts which had been sitting on one of the posts, and he jumped back.

"Felicity!" Oliver rushed forward to help her. Yet, she tumbled on to the pedestal and the little decorated gold pot like goblet fell to the floor, activating the security system, entrapping them with in the circular room by steel bars.

Red lights flashed, yet its alarm didn't go off as it should have.

Diggle fired his gun but Lucas was quick to move about and evade some of the bullets that flew at him as the others just ricocheted off the steel bars and hit the wall nearby.

Running out of bullets Diggle ran across the room, his hand trying to reach Lucas' neck through the bars.

The Bandit jumped further back making it impossible for Diggle to get a hand on him, "And don't worry about the police showing up… I've had the alarm system deactivated before I came here," Lucas snickered, standing on the other side of the enclosed chamber, "And I wasn't lying when I said I'm going to write a book about you… and this really would make a very interesting chapter in my book!" He fixed his gas mask, "It was an honor to meet you all! … Good bye!" He ran off through the dark corridor.

Oliver held Felicity's face in his hands, "Are you alright?"

She almost didn't hear what he was asking as she was too lost in his concerned gaze, "Yes," She nodded and he helped her stand up.

Diggle was trying to shake the bars to see whether they would budge, but unfortunately they stood unmoved and strong, "What are we going to do?" he asked feeling defeated.

"Think Felicity think…" She paced around scanning the room, despising her high heels that took her concentration off for all that running around in the museum had done her feet no good.

Then out of the blue, for no reason at all she found herself giggling.

"Why are you laughing?" Oliver asked her, and he too had a bit of laugh lingering on his face.

"Why are _you_ laughing?" Felicity stopped pacing; now laughing even harder.

Whatever the reason was for their unexplainable happiness, Diggle too seemed not to be immune to it, "What's so funny?" He asked, laughing harder than both of them.

Then Felicity realized why Lucas may've been wearing a gas mask. The Young Bandit was not just a simple thief, he was a prankster, he liked to have a laugh while he went about his work, "Oh oh!" she said smiling though there was nothing to smile about.

"What?" Oliver was almost tearing up for he was attempting to hold in his smiles.

"Nitrous Oxide…" Felicity looked up at the little ventilation holes, from where the gas may be streaming in. "I think it's coming from there..." She pointed at the minute square vents.

"What?" Diggle managed to mumble amidst his laugh.

"Felicity you know that I dropped out of four schools right? And science was never my thing…" It was amazing how Oliver was able to look and sound so teed off even when he was supposed to be intoxicated by laughing gas, which actually proved the point why 'Angry Bird' was a perfect code name for him.

"Laughing gas…" Felicity giggled covering her nose with her hand, hoping that she would at least be able to delay the influence, although she knew there was no point for it now, for the gas was already in her system and soon she knew they all will be lying unconscious on the floor as it had an anesthetic effect.

"But why?" Diggle was trying to cover his nose with the collar of his coat, but he was finding it difficult to keep his hand steady for the laughter was slowly taking control of him.

"May be he wants to see us laugh ourselves to death?" Oliver seemed to be the least affected by the gas as he was able to walk more naturally about the room than the rest of them.

"That won't be a bad way to go would it?" As robust as Diggle was he seemed to be very poorly adapting to the contaminated air around him, for he was leaning on to a wall feeling exhausted, unable to stop himself from smiling so much.

Oliver pulled out what looked like her phone from his pocket, "He's going back to the ball room.." He said smilingly, reading the screen.

"Why?" Diggle seemed quite dazed.

"He's going to just walk away with the gems, while the guards just stand there and laugh…" Felicity slowly glided towards Oliver to have a look at the signals they were receiving from the trackers. "We need to get out of here! We need to stop him," She muttered almost cracking up like a maniac.

"But how?" Oliver sounded a bit stoned as he gazed at the vents.

The vents were too small to crawl through and moreover they would be breathing too much of the laughing gas if they were to slither through that.

Felicity's vision was getting blurred, her face slowly going numb, and she was starting to feel much like when she had that bottle of champagne the other night, "May be I can rewire this…" She almost zigzagged her way to the little pedestal, which she had fallen onto earlier to find what had triggered the security system.

After discovering a little hatch at the bottom of the stand, she sat on the ground and took the pin off her hair to loosen the screws on it, hoping for it to be casing a circuit board.

"Can't you do it faster?" Oliver sat beside her.

"Not while I'm laughing like this, and not when you're breathing down my neck like that?" She meant to sound annoyed, but all she did was laugh hysterically.

"Oliver let her do her job..." Diggle managed to sound bit more serious as he slithered down along the wall and sat on the cold floor of the museum.

"We don't have much time!" Oliver was fighting the reaction of the Nitrous Oxide was having on him and so far he had not completely lost for though he was laughing he looked the saner one of the lot.

She poked at the circuit board she had just uncovered, "You think I don't know that?" Blue seemed purple, red seemed green, and black changed to white as she stared at the colorful wires squinting.

"May be if you try to concentrate more on rewiring the circuit and not on laughing so much!" He glared.

"May be if you try to think of something to stop me from laughing…" She was still chuckling, when Oliver cupped her face and placed his lips on top of hers. Her eyes which at first went wide in shock gently closed as his lips smoothly ran upon hers, making her lips part with want. The pin in her hand slid through her fingers and dropped as he deepened the kiss. Her face was numb no more, in fact it was burning, and her lips were tingling. It may have been because she was not all there in her head, but she thought she had never had had such a flawless kiss, for as they say she could see and feel sparks fly.

The euphoric sensation she had already been feeling only heightened when she felt his fingers begin to tangle themselves in her hair.

Hearing Diggle's nervous smiles reminded her of where they were, and she mustering some courage, very much unwillingly, pushed Oliver back, "Why did you do that for?" She shot back at him angrily only to burst out and laugh a moment later.

Oliver had begun to cackle, it was the loudest he had laughed throughout the whole laughing gas nuisance, "I thought you wanted me to do something to stop you from laughing?"

"You're supposed to do something that would make me feel not so happy!" She babbled, taking the hair pin back with her shaky hand, trying to ignore what she had almost confessed to and what Oliver had so stupidly done.

"Calm down you two! Let's just be glad that didn't work or else I would've had to kiss Oliver…" Diggle wasn't making it easier for himself to stop himself from dyeing of laugher.

Oliver's Nitrous Oxide endorsed snort seemed a bit conceited as he went onto try and kick the strong iron poles off. "You should be so lucky," He mumbled, not being clear as to whom he was implying it.

"If it had worked, I would've kissed you Diggle," Felicity retorted pulling out a red wire, or may be a purple one, she wasn't sure. Either way she was glad she wasn't disarming a bomb or else she knew they may all be dead.

"Somehow I don't think your fiancé would've liked that!" Diggle was holding onto his head as if he was about to pass out laughing.

Suddenly Felicity noticed Oliver to be kicking the steel rods even harder, and faster, as though he had a score to settle with the innocent iron rods, "Let's just focus on getting out of here!" He muttered.

"Got it!" She had figured it out, the green wire which she had previously thought to be a blue one should be connected back to where the red or the purple one was. "Voilà!" She yelled after reconnecting the wires, and then instantly the steel bars went back up again, "Let's go!" she squealed.

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**A/N: **Thanks so much to all the 77 of you who favorited, the 240 of you that are following the story and all of you who reviewed! Sorry for any mistakes and for taking bit longer than usual to update.

**CQCRASH, bluebell-uk, Scotsfangirl** - Thanks for the reviews, hope you liked how Laurel was written.

**Bluedragon81** – Hope you have a great school year and thanks for the review!

**Virgyarca** - Cool, so happy to know you are enjoying reading the story and having a laugh.

**shepweir always** - Thanks for the review, I hoped you liked the kiss in the last scene, it may not have been what you wanted, I mean they were like half conscious and half sort of on drugs, but a kiss is a kiss, right?

**SamanthaFreita3, Laura** – So happy you liked the previous chapter :D hope you liked this one too!

**Ashira Storm, Lil5weetie**- I've hinted at Oliver's real feelings a few times in this chapter ;)

**TanyaKay** – I was smiling when I was writing the Angry Bird thing too! It was such a fun part to write.

**The Wonderful Mistique** – Yay! I wasn't really sure if Felicity should blurt it out or should discuss it first, and then I went along with blurting it out..

Thanks for **guest and Jaidee** for the reviews too!


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Oliver had kissed many a women, too many in fact. However kissing his IT girl, twice in two days felt different, good different, frighteningly different and which was why, just like her he had opted not to talk of it.

As in any case it was due to the '_Nitro_-_something'_ gas that clouded his mind, he concluded. Therefore with no guilt or hesitancy over what he had done, he was able to lean into one of the walls of the elevator and quietly enjoy the way Felicity struggled to undo the buckles on the thin straps of her shoes.

She had been complaining about them the whole ride over and finally as she stood with him in the elevator of her building, she had decided it was time to be rid of them or at least try to get the clasps off.

He took his coat, he had been hauling over his shoulder and draped it over his arm, studying the way Felicity grumbled, hitting one of her heels on the floor trying to slip out from it. "Why doesn't this stupid shoe come off?" She cried.

Oliver would rather stand back and enjoy the view, watch her fume and whine, listen to her talk to her gold shoes, smile as her face turned red, but then again he truly couldn't just watch her be in distress either. "Here," He offered, kneeling down in front of her to get the pesky shoes unbuckled.

She tried to resist his help, yet her tiny feet had no say as he forcefully took one foot at a time and got the buckles undone.

Her toes danced still sitting up on her shoes, feeling relieved as they may've gotten bit more blood flowing into them. "Thanks…" She smiled shyly, giving him the pleasure of seeing her cheeks turn pink.

As he got back up, the heavy machinery that ran the elevator went quiet, reaching their stop.

The doors opened and they hopped out, Felicity almost tripping. With the straps off, she didn't look to have much control over where her shoes went.

"Thanks for dropping me off Oliver," She was already starting to say her goodbyes, but he wasn't ready. He had been planning to drop her at her door, see her disappear behind the green door with the numbers 'four-one-two' on it' so that he could sleep well knowing she was safe.

"I'll walk you to your door," He insisted and looked at the line of doors to his right.

She rolled her eyes, "You don't have to… and you also don't have to look so worried. Thanks to Lucas Young's girlfriend's really bad aim, he is in a coma now. So I'm guessing he won't be coming after me or will be telling your secret to anyone, anytime soon! So, I think I would probably be alright walking to my apartment by myself," She started to walk away, looking behind to see whether he would still follow her or give up after hearing the reasons that she had put forth.

Oliver followed her nevertheless; the Bandit's state of being seemed irrelevant to the matter and he had realized that he was never going to stay back in the first place.

"Lucas Young's girlfriend wasn't the only one with poor aim!" He said catching up to her, pointing at the still fresh, small scar on his forehead he had gotten during the course of their battle with the Young Bandit.

She turned to him, clearly offended, "Hey! I was trying to hit Lucas with that… that thing! Who knew he would duck and I would hit you instead… And I thought you were supposed to be all Kung-Fu master like…" She began to move her hands about; badly mimicking some fight move she undoubtedly had to have seen in some movie.

If Diggle had seen her moves, Oliver assumed the retired soldier would've been severely disappointed at his student. "I just wasn't expecting to be attacked by someone from my own team." Oliver's hand naturally went to his forehead, the memory of Felicity swinging some weapon at him bringing a tinge of pain to the otherwise quiet wound.

She glowered at his scar, "You should probably put something on it… or… If you want, I can… I have an emergency kit in my apartment…" Biting her lower lip she looked at him, worried for the umpteenth time, for the umpteenth time feeling wretched about the fact he had a scar on his face because of her poor aim.

"Hmmm…" He thought about her offer, something about it bringing a smile to his face.

"What?" She asked as they passed another door.

He observed her feet, they were steady, and she looked to have mastered walking with her shoes unbuckled. "Why do I feel like you missed Lucas Young on purpose, because you like playing Doctor with me?" He marched forward without even looking at her and he didn't have to look at her face to know she was infuriated.

"Let's get one thing straight, I hate playing doctor with you because I don't really like the sight of blood. And I only offered to take a look at your _tiny_ scar, because you've been acting like I cut your face into two with a samurai sword! Well, it was a model of a samurai sword, made of wood… or was it some type of plastic? It wasn't the real thing… but" She trailed off.

He quietly listened to her rambles. Like always they amused him, she amused him.

Her eyes then went to the ceiling as if trying to gather her staying thoughts, and began to speak in a very hushed tone, "The point is, just because you want to keep up this… this charade of being engaged, that doesn't mean it's because you want to play House with me, right? It's all because of your secret. Just like me wanting to take care of you… your little scar, is because of your secret!" She pulled his collar aside as if to remind him of the scars he had gotten fighting a thug couple of weeks ago, "Because you can't go to the doctor without being able to explain how you got these little cuts right below your jaw… back of your neck and your hand," She went on to point out all his recent scars that had kept him from going even close to a doctor or a hospital. "All of which I… Me… Felicity Smoak took care of," She huffed, and it sounded as though it was the end of her sermon.

However, all Oliver could think about was how it would be to play House with Felicity Smoak.

He was never that fond of that game when he was a kid and he could remember playing 'Super hero' with Tommy instead. While the young Merlyn played the role of his side kick and sometimes his nemesis, Thea he remembered coming to them with her doll and her tea cups asking Tommy to play House with her.

He had never really given much thought as to how the game truly went, but he felt he certainly wouldn't mind learning all about it with his IT girl.

It made him wonder, whether wanting to continue with the ruse was just about wanting to use it to help guard his secret or did it have something to do with seeking some strange compensation for a game he had missed out on when he was younger or did it really have nothing to with anything else and had everything to do with 'Felicity Megan Smoak', the feisty blonde IT girl standing before his eyes, who had a knack for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.

"Earth to Moon, do you copy?" She was waving her hands in front of his face, trying to bring him back from all the very pleasant thoughts he had gotten lost in.

He just smiled not knowing what he should be saying in defense of his sudden lack of awareness.

"So are you going to come in and have me take a look at that _really deep_ cut?" She mocked, turning around to the door behind her.

It was then he realized they were already standing in front of her apartment.

"I guess…" He mumbled watching her open the door.

"Let me find the first aid kit," She went in, kicking her shoes off the moment she stepped inside.

Though he had entered her apartment a million times, tonight as he put his foot into its hardwood floor, he suddenly felt there was something strange about being in an enclosed area with her in the middle of the night, where there were places that things could actually happen.

He cautiously eyed such places he considered to be precarious; the brown leathered couch, her bedroom, the granite island in her small kitchen.

Especially after being exposed to a drug that made him lose a good part of his rational brain and after kissing her like he did, he feared that he may not have any control over what he may want to do next. "On second thought, maybe I should go… Diggle is waiting…"

"It won't take long…" She disappeared into her room not buying his excuse.

Making himself believe that his confusing feelings to be just an after effect of the intoxicating air he had breathed, which probably would pass away shortly, he decided to stay and closed the door behind him.

"I just want to sleep with a clear conscience tonight…that's all!" She yelled from her room.

He threw his coat onto a chair and wandered about the apartment.

The odd pocket-sized knickknacks kept on table tops and shelves fitted her personality perfectly, he thought as he scanned around.

His eyes then caught a new addition to her apartment, a confused looking gold fish swimming about its small fishbowl placed on one of the book shelves.

As he moved closer to get a better look, the fish swam away and hid behind the castle in the center of the bowl.

"Did the mean vigilante scare you Sushi?" Felicity's distorted reflection appeared on the fishbowl.

He spun around and saw her standing barefoot with a first aid kit.

"I didn't do anything!" He declared his innocence.

She shrugging off his plead came closer and gaped at the fish, "It's ok Sushi, I won't let him hurt you." The mindless fish as if it had understood her, came out of hiding.

She pouted at the fish, imitating its ever moving mouth.

When the fish moved closer to the glass she placed a very light kiss on the bowl, leaving a barely seen lipstick stain on the once clear bowl.

Oliver suddenly came to hate the miniature gold thing that started to whirl away almost smugly.

"Ok, let's go take care of that thing on your forehead," She dragged him towards the couch, unaware that his stare was still on the dumb fish inside the fishbowl.

"Sit!" She pushed him to the couch and involuntary he was sitting, waiting for her to take care of him, like she always seemed to do.

He stared as she carefully took out a piece of cotton wool and a little tube containing some form of an ointment and stood over him.

She turned his head up by his chin and started to treat the wound, which compared to all his other scars was fairly miniscule.

She winced as the soft mass of wool in her hand went over his cut as if she felt his pain, while he on the other hand sat gazing at her, unmoved, unflinching.

"There," She said, finished applying the cold cream on his scraped skin.

He was somewhat annoyed that she was already done and was putting the ointment back into its case.

So as she was about to go back to her room, to put the emergency kit back where it was, he grabbed her by her wrist. "So Angry Bird ha?" He stood up, thinking how petite she looked without her heels.

The first aid kit fell to the coffee table near her when she tried squirm out of his hold.

"Well that's what you are… most of the time… Angry!" She retorted spinning herself around, still failing to get her hand released.

He smirked at her reply, nearly feeling the burn on her crimson cheeks as he too took a step and moved closer to her.

She glared at him, boldly taking a step forward to meet his eyes as though to challenge him.

"And that's all you see me as? Just… angry?" He just wanted to see her babble her way out of really answering the question. Already he knew that was not all she thought of him. As a matter of fact he had heard her much lively voice sing his praise in his ear, call him a 'hero' not so long ago.

"That's what you want us to think of you isn't it?" She frowned.

"You didn't answer my question," He took another step, and she took one step back and tumbled into the couch, dragging him down with her.

They both had ended up sitting down, she a tad ungracefully and he much better and right next to her. His hand was still gripping her delicate wrist, through which he thought he heard her speeding pulse.

Felicity sat up a bit straight only to find herself sitting closer to him, "I did answer your question!"

"Not really…" His face slowly inched towards hers.

She sitting where she was pulled her head back and gazed at him, the task of trying to free her hand completely forgotten. "What… what are you doing?" She asked.

He didn't know, he just kept moving closer to her as she kept leaning back trying to get away.

"Oliver…" She paused, and stayed quiet for a moment taking her time reading his eyes, "When you said… it was real…" She stopped again and didn't quite seem to want to finish her question, but he knew what she wanted to know. Yet the problem was he himself wasn't sure what exactly he had meant when he had uttered those words. Although, the strange warm feeling he felt in his chest as he stared at the blonde, told him soon enough he would know exactly what his words had meant.

She started to mutter again as he gave her no answers, "And… at the museum you… we… "

She was referring to their kiss, which compared to the first subject he found to be an easier subject to discuss, "I had to do something to stop you from laughing, and that's the only way I could think of," It was the only thing he felt like doing at that moment, as he watched her babble away, as he watched her talkative lips move. It was the only thing he could think about now, as she stared back at him with her lips slightly parted.

He slid closer to her almost instinctively, "And not to mention… I was under the influence… of laughing gas," Breathing in a puff of her familiar scent, he thought he felt the same elated feeling as he had felt when he was at the museum.

"And that's your explanation? You didn't look like you were… that… that high …" She proclaimed, sliding backwards and stopping as her back hit the arm of the sofa.

He glided towards her, following her lead, "You can say you were drunk, but I can't say a criminal master mind made me breathe laughing gas and made me crazy?" He released her hand and put his hands on either side of her, up on the armrest behind her. He had her trapped.

"That was… that was different and I repeat you… you didn't look all that high," She muttered and she slithered down the couch seeking a getaway. However that poor attempt to escape only made her almost lie on her back, with her head resting on the armrest.

He got one leg on the ground and the one on the couch; he was practically floating over her. "So what are you saying Felicity?" May be she knew what he was failing to put into words, he figured.

Her eyes blinked, "I'm… I'm saying… maybe… maybe…"

"May be…" He too repeated, thinking maybe, just may be if he tasted those rambling lips of hers one more time, everything would be clearer.

As if hypnotized by the blonde underneath him he moved his lips closer.

"I… I thought…. You wanted to… go… because... Diggle was waiting," Her unsteady breathing was getting in the way of her talking.

"Let him wait," He replied, seeking her lips as she had looked away from him.

Rather untimely, her phone began to ring giving her a chance to come up with another excuse that may make him move away and let her go, "My… phone is ringing," She had turned her head to him again, accidentally aligning her lips perfectly against his.

"Let it ring," He said.

She quickly slid father down, her head now coming to rest on the seat she had been sitting a moment ago. He adjusted himself, so as to have his face hover above her startled one, so as to gaze upon her blue eyes.

"It could be important… maybe it's my mom… I've been meaning to talk to her," She slurred, sinking her head deep into the cushion of the seat hoping to get far away from him as possible.

He smiled at her lies, "I thought I heard you say to Diggle that you're considering not talking to your mom again until everything calms down?"

She gulped loudly, "But…" She for once sounded to have run out of things to say.

He went in closer, stopped an inch or so away from her lips.

She closed her eyes, running out of excuses.

He closed his eyes, seeking her ready lips, wanting to find out what excuses he had been making up for the last couple of days or perhaps for the last couple of years.

"Felicity Megan Smoak, open this door right now! I know you're in there!" A woman shouted knocking on the door.

"Oh, fu- fudge!" She gasped, turning her head towards the door, "Get off of me! It's my mom!" She cried sliding under him until she was out of the couch, leaving him to almost kiss the empty cushion.

"Did you just say fudge?" He laughed, rolling onto the now lonely couch, trying to act not so disappointed by the turn of events.

She replied with a menacing glower as if to warn him to behave himself and fixed her dress and hair to go open the door. "I should've picked up my phone!" She regretted, and walked over to the door taking deep breath.

He watched her hand stay still on the knob, as her mother began to hit the door even louder, fighting with someone, perhaps her husband whose voice was barely heard over the loud banging noise.

"Wish me luck," She pleaded.

He smiled sitting upright, "Good luck,"

She was turning the knob and his smile began to fade thinking about the moment lost, thinking whether it was some kind of a sign that was trying to tell him that he was about to cross a line that shouldn't ever be crossed.

At least, he figured, he would get to meet her parents out of this whole ordeal and he would be able to get an idea of why Felicity Smoak was the girl she was, why she was the only one who seemed to make him smile so much.

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**A/N: **Yay! More than 200 reviews! And more than 250 alerts. Thanks every one! You are awesome!

**Junjunyil****:** Thanks for all the reviews!

**emily. ****, ****Jadiee****, ****VampireGleek77****, ****Jean Deere****, ****radiate689: **Thanks for reading the story and the reviews

**DG:** Thanks for the review and thanks for your tip. I didn't realize I was doing that, I tried to change most of the lines. I will keep it in mind when I'm writing the next one. Thanks again and don't worry I didn't think of it as a flame. :)

**bluebell-uk**** :** I wasn't sure about the action parts, glad you enjoyed it and don't mind whether it was action or romance. :D

**The Wonderful Mistique****:** I'm so so so happy that you enjoy reading this story, and that you liked the convos where they were all spying on each other!

**Virgyarca**** , ****bjq****, ****Dianitachiva** – Yay, I loved writing the way how that kiss came about, so happy you liked it too!

**CQCRASH****:** Thanks for the review and really happy I made you laugh! :D

**marylovesolicity**** :** Thanks for all your reviews, It's so great that you enjoy their banters, and the kiss, yeah may be their next kiss might be little bit more passionate.

**Minnie**: Thanks for the review, did you mean to say, Archive of our own or something else… I went to make an account in AO3 and clicked on the button to get an invitation, but I still didn't sign up, I don't know why.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14 **

Felicity looked a guilty teenager caught doing something mischievous in her bedroom when she opened the front door to let her parents in, "Mom… Dad… What are you two doing here?"

A fuming middle aged woman barged in, with a rather lanky gentleman wearing a pair of dark rimmed spectacles, following closely behind.

Oliver mindlessly stood up seeing them. Yet both the parents were seemingly unaware of the fourth person in the room, and their daughter too who was too caught up in their sudden arrival had failed to introduce _him_, her fiancé to them.

Felicity's mother clearly was in no mood to clarify why she had decided to drop by her daughter's place in such an hour. "Please tell me this picture is photo-shopped?" She tossed a tabloid magazine at Felicity.

The shocked young blonde just barely caught the magazine with both her hands. Her eyes went big seeing their pictures on the cover page and she hurriedly turned the pages to see what other things may lay inside. Her eyes settled on the center fold, "What in the world am I wearing?" The IT girl was slanting her head about, turning the magazine around from all four corners trying to examine the pictures.

"Don't act like you are seeing it for the first time!" The livid mother crossed her arms and stared, her right foot tapping on the floor as if to count the seconds it took her daughter to come up with a retort.

"I am seeing it for the first time mom!" Felicity closed the magazine quickly as though she had seen something horrid and held it close to her chest, "I was too scared to look at them…"

Oliver was surprised Felicity hadn't seen the pictures of them in the tabloids. He would have thought the curiosity would have driven her to at least peek at one picture of them. Perhaps it would have been nice if she had seen the one that showed him, caringly taking his very drunk IT girl, who was wearing nothing but his coat through the motel room door; the picture which he was sure was not in this particular magazine Felicity's mother had thrown at her. There was something so endearing about the way her head was leaning against his shoulder in that snapshot and he was disappointed that Felicity hadn't still seen it.

Her father grinned placing his hand around his wife's shoulders, "Don't take your mother so seriously honey. She's just mad you didn't tell her about it first and she had to find it out from these magazines! To tell you the truth, I think she's mostly mad because she had to postpone our vacation to Hawaii just to come here and shout at you," He was elbowed on the stomach by his wife, who stood glowering at Felicity as if her husband's sudden yelp had nothing to do with her.

"You were going to go to Hawaii? When were you going to tell your only daughter that you were going far far away where there's a high possibility of shark attacks? Did you know at least three people die every year in Hawaii of shark attacks? It might not sound like a lot….but didn't you think I'd be worried?" Felicity garbled definitely trying to divert her mother's attention.

Her father on the other hand, as the two women on the room continued to quarrel had learnt of Oliver Queen's presence, "Honey…" He whispered to his wife, tapping on her shoulder.

Felicity's mother was apparently deaf to her husband's warnings. She just carried on fighting with her daughter, "Don't try to turn this on me now!" She yanked the magazine from Felicity's hands. "When you're in a magazine with some billionaire play boy, going to some motel, wearing god knows what! " She waved the magazine in her hand, her face becoming redder; red as the fiery red of her own hair, "When I had to find out my only daughter could be getting married to some womanizer, from a gossip magazine…" Her harsh tone gradually turned softer, "Are you really getting married to him honey? Please tell me it's some story made up by these pests!"

"Honey!" Flashing a very embarrassed smile at Oliver, Mr. Smoak was trying to turn his wife around, to stop her from driveling further about Oliver Queen and his womanizing ways.

Oliver smiled equally embarrassed listening to Mrs. Smoak's overture of what everyone believed Oliver Queen to be.

"Oh honey…" Mr. Smoak cooed again, and his efforts proved not to be in vain for once, he finally had managed show his wife that there were not just the Smoaks who were in the vicinity.

Mrs. Smoak gasped, her hand clutched roughly onto the magazine looking at Oliver. "So it is true?"

"Ehm… Mom… Dad… this is my… my... …. Oliver… Oliver Queen…my…" Felicity struggled to find the words.

Oliver walked to them, wanting to help Felicity finish her sentence. "Her fiancé,"

"Oliver… eh… this is my mom and dad…" Felicity completed the introduction.

Yet before either of them could breathe Felicity's mother flung the magazine onto a nearby drawer and grabbed her daughter by the arm, "Can I talk to you in the kitchen for a moment…" She dragged her daughter to the kitchen, which was just a small area to the right of the living room.

Mrs. Smoak was a little woman but she was able to drag Felicity away even as her feet tried to stay put and tried to pull herself away from her mother's force.

Felicity's eyes were practically begging to be saved from her mother as she took her away to the kitchen counters.

"So… I know you're a billionaire and all that, but what do you really do Oliver Queen?" Mr. Smoak was asking, but Oliver was too worried about his IT girl to turn around and answer the question. He watched them through the somewhat wide doorway that led to the kitchen, which thankfully had no door that could have blocked his view. He tried to listen in, but she and her mother were arguing virtually in whispers. He could catch little words from here and there, but not much to make any sense out of it, making him wish they still had their comm-links on them, so he could know what exactly they were talking about.

"Oliver?" Felicity's father was sitting on the couch when Oliver finally gave his attention to him.

"I look over things at Queen consolidated and I run my own night club…" Oliver with his eyes still on the ongoing conversation in the kitchen sat on the chair next to the couch.

It was a perfect position from where he could still spy on the activities happening in the kitchen and talk with Felicity's father at the same time.

However, his feet were nagging him to stand up and go to her.

He was just about to listen to his feet when he heard Mr. Smoak's voice again.

"If you were wise, you would just let the geniuses fight and sort out their arguments… That's what I normally do. Just relax! We ordinary folks should stay back and let them try and solve it out by themselves first," Felicity's father commented, turning his head to the kitchen only to roll his eyes at his daughter and wife.

Oliver looked at Mr. Smoak who now was smiling by himself, "Your wife's a genius too?" Oliver's eyes then once more strayed towards his genius.

"She never told you?" Mr. Smoak leaned in closer as if to tell a great secret, "They both are… except my wife never admits it, but her IQ is five points less than Flissy's…"

"Flissy?" Oliver gazed at the older gentlemen quite entertained by the nickname.

"You don't understand mom!" Felicity's voice suddenly became a notch louder, and when she realized it had, she went back to whispering.

"You didn't know that I called her that?" Mr. Smoak glowered.

Oliver shook his head amusedly, "No,"

"Of course you didn't know. I remember there was this one guy in her school, his name… I think it was Brandon. I remember Flissy giving me a warning never to call her that in front of him. I don't know why, it isn't such a bad nickname, is it?" The father's stare travelled to his daughter. Flissy as he called her, had now stopped talking and was listening to her mother's lecture, her head bent and eyes glued to the floor.

"Flissy…" Oliver repeated with a smirk, as if it were some kind of a magic word he should memorize.

"So I'm guessing you met my daughter at Queen consolidated… like the magazine was saying?" Felicity's father asked, putting his leg up on the other creating a figure four.

"Yes, we did," Oliver nodded, thinking back on their first meeting, the cockamamie story he had told about spilling his latte on the laptop, when clearly anyone could see it was infected with bullet holes.

There onwards there was silence as neither men had nothing more to ask or say to the other.

A minute or two had idly passed when Felicity's father finally came up with something to say, "Felicity never said much about you… and from the surprised look you have on your face every time I say something I assume she hasn't said much about us either… Did she say that her mother is a neurosurgeon and I'm an archeologist?" Mr. Smoak appeared quite proud saying those words out loud. The Smoaks looked as if they gave priority to education just as the Queens gave priority to money and power.

"I remember Felicity saying something but you know how she starts to say about what her parents do for a living and ends with how world hunger could be solved?" Oliver did remember Felicity mention something or the other about her parents in one of her very long babbles. However he was preoccupied in the speed in which her fuchsia colored lips moved to concentrate on anything she was saying that day; at least he remembered that much very well.

"Well that's true…" Felicity's father agreed, and the way his eyes stared blankly at the coffee table was very telling of the fact Felicity may have told many a tales that even he as her father who had known her for more than a couple of decades could not keep up with.

"So an archeologist? Like Indiana Jones?" It was the first thing that came to Oliver's mind when the word archeologist came up in their conversation. In fact 'Indi' was the only archaeologist he knew.

The archaeologist in front of him laughed rather loudly, "Except for the hat, the whip, the adventures and all the pretty ladies swooning over me."

Oliver grinned back at the man, thinking that felicity may have gotten her wit from her father, while she may have gotten the ability to talk nonstop from her mother.

The mere thought of the babbling blonde made his eyes inevitably wander to the kitchen yet again.

It was Mrs. Smoak's voice this time that abruptly ruptured the peace, "You don't really believe that do you? I mean I can understand why you want to marry him, I have eyes… he is a great specimen of a young man! But Felicity… Are you sure about this?"

Oliver could see Felicity glance up at him, stare as if the answer to her mother's question was written on his eyes.

True it was a fake engagement, true that she could simply say 'Yes' without any meaning being attached to the words, but she hadn't and it made him curious as to why she took so much time to answer and whether she would say anything other than 'Yes', or go as far as to say the truth to her mother.

Felicity was opening her mouth to answer, her lips Oliver could see quiver as they ready themselves to bring the words out, but before he could read her lips and learn the answer she was about to whisper, he felt Felicity's father's hand on his shoulder, "Oliver do you love my daughter?"

The question shook him up and made him twirl his head around in a snap, "Yes?" He was almost asking himself rather than answering the father of his fiancée.

The father frowned, reading the uncertainty in Oliver's words, "Oliver, my wife might look like she doesn't like you, but she doesn't hate you either. She's just upset that Flissy kept your engagement from her… And mind you your reputation hasn't done you any favors either. But just know she changes her mind very quickly…" He lowered his voice and moved closer to Oliver, "And all I want is what's best for my Flissy. She is a very intelligent girl and I'm hoping she knows what she's doing. But remember this, I may not be my wife or Indiana Jones, but if you hurt my daughter in any way I will not think twice to put you in a tomb with a mummy, where no one can find you," The archaeologist's threat made the Vigilante gulp.

He would never want to hurt Felicity but thinking about where this sham may take them, he suddenly came to fear that he may end up hurting her, end up hurting 'Felicity Smoak' who he had sworn to protect, the girl who made him smile.

"Do you understand me Oliver Queen?" Felicity's father glowered.

"Yes!" Oliver answered more decisively this time, he may not be sure about lot of things, but he was sure he would never want to see her hurt. "Yes Sir!" He added like a soldier accepting the commands of a high ranking officer, her eyes on the blonde genius in the kitchen.

"I love him! I love Oliver Queen!" Felicity shouted from the top of her lungs. "Isn't that reason enough?"

Was it an Oscar worthy performance, or was it the truth that had escaped her lips, Oliver couldn't really figure out. He gazed at Felicity, who looked back at him rather rattled by her own outburst.

She then hiding her face from all that stared at her, darted into her bedroom and banged the door shut.

Oliver stood up to follow her. He needed to get to her as soon as possible.

"At least someone is sure about how they feel…" Felicity's father muttered next to him, "I'm just glad she's not in love with that Vigilante she keeps defending…"

"What?' Oliver slurred, stopping in his tracks at the mention of the vigilante.

Mr. Smoak was watching her wife as she poured a glass of water for herself. "The Vigilante! I'm surprised Flissy hadn't come up to us and said she was having the Vigilante's baby or something… and that's a surprise her mother would have loved! "

Oliver couldn't understand whether the man was being sarcastic or not. His head tilted to the right, heavy with thoughts, "Your wife would've loved it if Felicity was having the Vigilante's baby?" He couldn't believe he was even asking such a question, putting such words together.

"Yes… she just loves the Vigilante… and actually hates it when I call him that. She wants me to call him the 'Green Arrow'… she likes the fact that he stands for people who doesn't have a voice," Felicity's father shook his head and rolled his eyes, providing proof for the fact that unlike his wife he was not that much of a fan of Oliver's alter ego.

"In fact if my wife knew who or where the Vigilan... the Green Arrow was, I won't be surprised if she tried to get Felicity married off to the guy…" The Vigilante disliking archeologist glanced at his troubled wife, who was now sitting on a kitchen stool, rubbing her forehead, "Excuse me Oliver, I need to check on my genius wife, and I suggest you go and check on yours too," He commanded walking over to the kitchen.

Oliver acknowledged his order nodding at Felicity's bedroom door. He then hurried across the living room and went to her door, "Felicity," He called.

Oliver heard no answer and he couldn't wait for one, thus he grabbed the knob roughly and pushed the door open.

She was sitting on the edge of her bed, her back turned to him, "Felicity are you ok?" He asked walking over to her.

"No!" She hissed, hiding her face in her palms.

He sat on the bed, the spot just a bit behind her, "What's wrong?" He caught her by the elbow, to move her hand away and turn her around.

"She said… You're not right for me… she said I'm too good for you…" She cried, and he couldn't help but feel that her mother may have been right.

"I mean I know this is not real, but how can she say what I should and shouldn't do! I'm not a child anymore!" Finally she turned around, her makeup slightly smeared.

"The good news is your father told me your mother loves the Green Arrow," Oliver wanted to see if he could plant a smile on her face.

She wiped her tears away from the back of her hand, smudging her make up some more. "That's what makes me even more angry, that I can't tell her the truth… tell her who you really are… tell her that you're not the man she thinks you are,"

The tone of her voice, pulled on his heart strings, "That's alright Felicity, I'm used to it,"

"But that's not fair!" She opposed with a frown.

He countered her frown with a forced smile, "At least your father likes me…" He thought of the archeologist's easy going nature, "I think…" He then muttered remembering the man's threat.

The news made Felicity smile at last.

"I thought you were going to tell your mother the truth," He wanted to know why the girl who was so adamant about telling Moira Queen the truth was all ready to keep the truth from her own mother.

"I thought about it, but the more she was against the whole thing, the more I found myself wanting to fight for us… fight against my mom I mean, because I couldn't let her tell me what to do."

He listened to her quietly, pondering about every word she had said.

His phone that buzzed annoyingly in his pocket took his notice away from her blue eyes.

He took his phone out, "It's Diggle!" With everything that had been happening, they both had forgotten about their friend who was waiting for him at the parking lot.

"Hope he's not mad," Felicity's forehead showed some wrinkles as she sat waiting to hear what Diggle had to say.

"_Got yourself a fiancé and already forgot about your friends?"_ Diggle's laugh made the speakers of his phone vibrate.

"I'll be there in a few minutes, there was a small situation…" Oliver explained, but he couldn't tell all the details, a knock on the door disrupted him, "Diggle, I'll call you back!" He hung up quickly.

"Felicity!" Her father was calling her. "Open the door, your mother wants to talk to you."

Felicity huffed and faced the wall, not wanting to look at the door.

"Aren't you going to talk to her?" Oliver got up, and stood in front of her.

"No!" She sat looking at the floor hell-bent on not talking to her mother.

"Felicity, honey open the door!" Her mother sounded awfully upset.

Oliver took Felicity's hand and made her stand up. "Come, just talk to your mother, " He slightly pushed her towards the closed door.

She grumbled as she reluctantly stepped in the way of the exit. "I hate you Oliver Queen,"

He followed her, his hand gently lying on her back, "I thought I heard you scream otherwise,"

She spun around, "That… That's what you call acting!" She pointed her finger at him, her eyes blinking rapidly.

He caught her finger, "Calm down… I knew you were just acting," He lied, he knew only now, and now he wished he hadn't, he wished he had kept wondering whether it was real or acting and had never brought it up in the first place.

Her eyes were fixed on his, but only till they heard another knock and she had to turn to the sound.

Oliver opened the door for Felicity and stood couple of steps behind her.

"Honey… I'm sorry," Her mother was standing right in front, her eyes red, filled with tears. "You know I over react sometimes. I was mad you didn't tell me about this. I sometimes forget that you're not a little girl anymore. I should know you're a very smart girl, who knows what she's doing,"

Her husband was standing right next to her, waiting for his daughter to accept the heartfelt apology.

Felicity's eyes too were tearing up, "No, mom… I'm sorry… I should've answered your calls and I should've told you about the whole engagement thing! I should be apologizing to you. It's my fault! I'm sorry…" Felicity sprung at her mother, crying, and hugged her as if she had seen her after a couple of decades.

Seeing the mother and the daughter finally resolve their problems made Oliver feel relieved that the charade that he so persistently wanted to continue hadn't torn them a part.

By the smile Mr. Smoak had on his face as he joined in on the family hug Oliver knew the man must be equally pleased.

"So does this mean you approve of my fiancé?" With a sassy smirk Felicity asked breaking off from the hug.

She was now standing right next to Oliver, her shoulder brushing against him.

"It means he gets a chance to change my mind," Felicity's mother raised her eyebrows and looked at Oliver and it seemed he wouldn't be getting an apology for being called a womanizer by her, anytime soon.

Oliver found himself trying to stand a bit straighter the moment Mrs. Smoak's judging eyes glared at him.

Felicity chuckled, watching his stance suddenly change.

"I hope you prove yourself worthy of my daughter Oliver, or else… who knows my wife just might get that Vigilante to marry her," Mr. Smoak added laughingly.

"The Green Arrow!" Mrs. Smoak corrected.

Oliver could hear Felicity's nervous giggle beside him, and he too could do nothing but flash a fake smile.

"Ok… Ok the Green Arrow…" Mr. Smoak acted as though he was frightened by his petite wife's stare that had fallen his way.

"Oh I can't believe my little girl is getting married!" Felicity's mother almost jumped clapping her hands together, "We have lot of planning to do… it's a winter wedding right?" Her eyes were still watering, but this time it was because she couldn't contain her happiness.

"We haven't even set a date yet!" Felicity groaned at her very excited mother, who just only a second ago was opposing the whole thing all together.

"Oh?" The enthusiasm in the mother's face faded.

The excitement in Mrs. Smoak's face and the way it soon disappeared made Oliver realize that their little act may turn to a very big feature film. He realized that their little lie when and if revealed could hurt a lot of people, like Mr. and Mrs. Smoak, who wanted nothing but the best for their daughter, who may have had dreams of seeing their only child being married to a nice, well-educated young man. They may joke about seeing her married to the Vigilante, but he doubted that they would ever want to see their daughter in that sort of danger, although unbeknownst to them she was.

"Since my two favorite women in the world have sorted out their issues, I think we should head back home?" Mr. Smoak suggested.

"But, Dad… It's almost midnight…" Felicity sulked.

"Don't worry sweetie… the car won't turn into a pumpkin!" Her father teased, making her mother and fiancé smile.

Felicity grunted not finding her father's humor not even slightly amusing, "No, what I mean is… you shouldn't be driving all the way home in the middle of the night, you can stay in the guest room… it's a bit small… there's only a small bed …but… or I can sleep there…" She proposed.

"It's alright honey…" Mrs. Smoak patted Felicity's arm to reassure her before she started to walk back into the living room with her husband.

"No, stay! I will take the guest room!" Felicity insisted following her mother, pouting her lips.

Oliver was walking beside her, watching the way she pouted, their kisses and the almost kiss on the couch coming to his mind.

Mrs. Smoak stopped and turned around. She glared coldly at Oliver as if to show she still had an agenda with him. "Oh but… I don't think Oliver Queen would be comfortable sleeping in the small bed in the guest room!"

"Oh no no no!" Felicity said quickly, "He doesn't live here,"

"I don't live here," Oliver said almost in sync with Felicity.

Her father surveyed them, their deceit filled eyes, "You don't have to lie sweetheart. It's the middle of the night and he's with you in your apartment and anyway who gets engaged these days and don't live together? Even your mom and I lived together for few years before we got married!"

May be afraid that they would come to know that everything was a lie, especially since 'Oliver Queen' had a reputation, Felicity quickly accepted that what they said before was a lie, "Sorry… I thought… you would… find it too much to handle in one day… he moved in with me few months ago,"

"Hmm… yeah," Oliver didn't know what more he could add to that lie. He wasn't a good liar, especially when it's not a part of a well thought out plan and even Felicity herself could have vouched for his inability to lie on the spot. Though Felicity was not a perfect liar herself at least she had the ability to confuse people with her awkward babbles and sometimes to even confuse herself with them.

"We learnt that you're engaged to a billionaire from a magazine, and you thought we wouldn't be able handle something like this? It's not like we're a conservative family from the eighteen hundreds?" Felicity's genius mother seemed to have caught on to the loopholes in the story her daughter was trying to spin.

"Well you know me… silly silly me…" Felicity made a little hand gesture, something akin to what one may see in an act performed by the 'Three Stooges' and continued to yap, "Sometimes I think the sky is going to fall when the main servers are down and when the sky is falling I will be sleeping like a baby, because I know the main servers are working just fine… did that make any sense?" Her forehead creased as she revised her words, "You are a neurosurgeon mom! By now you should be able to know how my brain works!" She whined, giving up on trying to give sense to her ramblings.

Felicity's mother was about to say something or the other about the function of her daughter's brain but she stopped, catching her husband yawn, "It looks like we won't be driving home after all… Actually I'm pretty beat too," Mrs. Smoak said.

"Uhm What?" Felicity shouted, her eyes looking over at her fake lover standing next to her.

Oliver could almost read her mind, read the fear in her eyes.

If their parents were to stay over then they would have to stand by their lies, more specifically the lie about them living together and they will have to stay the night in one room.

It was a prospect the IT girl did not look as though she was looking forward to.

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**A/N: **_Thanks for reading and reviewing, marking as favorite and putting the story on Alert. Sorry for any mistakes! Hope you enjoyed this part.__I wanted to add what happened when they were in one room together in this chapter, but then I thought it would take me another few days and I should post at least this much. You'll have to wait a little while longer to see what happens when they are stuck in one room together, since I'll be studying because I have an exam next Thursday._

**iTand, walkinthegardengnome, Guest1, Jadiee:, Guest 3** Thanks, Hope you liked the update!

**Kitten:** I could never imagine Felicity curse! But I should never say never…

**Virgyarca, schrooten5, Laura and Red Writer**: Glad you enjoyed reading the story! And hope you enjoyed this one just as much!

**VampireGleek77, Dianitachiva, Guest 2:** I can't let them kiss them again so soon! They already kissed twice in two days, I'm too evil for that! No just kidding may be Felicity will slip and fall on Oliver, and her lips will be on Oliver's lips.

**CQCRASH, bluebell-uk, bjq:** Oliver being jealous of Sushi was my favorite part of chapter 13, I was so excited to write that!

**SweetMe86:** They will be alone in one room next chapter.

**thekiller00**, **Jean Deere, Ashira Storm:** Hope you liked Oliver's encounter with Felicity's parents, I didn't want her mother to like him, and I didn't want her father to like the vigilante.

**Lil5weetie:** Thanks, I'm really happy you like the way I write Felicity.

**The Wonderful Mistique:** Thank for the review and giving me an idea!

**JunJunyil:** Thanks for all the reviews, I'll see how long I can keep the slow burn going…


	15. Author Note

**A/N: **Sorry this is not an update,I've almost finished the next chapter, but sadly I have few more exams coming up and the last one would be on the 27th. I can't concentrate on the story because I feel guilty about not studying. So I won't be able to update until then.

Sooo sorry about that :(

And if anyone would like to beta the next chapter please let me know :) It'll be a great help. (But i'll be finishing the chapter only after the 27th)

Thanks for all the reviews, reading and favourites.


	16. Chapter 15

**A/N:** Thanks every one for your patience, for all the reviews, favourites and alerts. Thanks so much to Colizuma for beta-ing this chapter and helping me to make the story better.

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**Chapter 15**

As Felicity stomped towards her dressing table, Oliver closed the bedroom door behind them.

"Felicity Smoak, for a genius, you really do stupid things!" Gazing at her reflection in the mirror, she blamed herself for not only convincing her parents to stay the night, but also further complicating matters by implying that Oliver Queen had moved into her miniscule apartment.

Oliver took his bow tie off and watched his IT girl curiously as she frowned at her reflection scrunching her nose.

A few moments later, he gave up trying to figure out what she was trying to do to her nose, and took his phone out to type a message to Diggle. He could just imagine Diggle's reaction as he wrote the text that explained how he and Felicity now had to share a room, and possibly a bed.

"Let's just be glad your parents took the guest room… Or else we would've had to come up with another lie to explain as to why I don't even have a tooth brush here," He mentioned as he pressed the send button on his phone and glanced up at Felicity.

"Ah, the silver lining! I hate those things!" She turned her head left and right, glaring at her nose, going a bit crossed eyed.

Oliver smiled at the silly faces she was unconsciously making, "Checking to see if your nose has started to grow?"

She looked startled, as though she had only just realized what she had been doing all this while, "Eh well, Bernice said I should meet her nose doctor so…"

"So you were checking to see if there was something wrong with your nose?" He couldn't believe she was even considering it. Thinking that there could be anything wrong with her perfect little nose that always seemed to twitch a bit whenever she realized she had stumbled on her words was absurd.

She shrugged, her eyes still secretly glancing at the mirror, "Eh… I don't know I was just… I just thought…"

"Don't! You're perfect just the way you are…" He blurted before he could stop himself. He could see her eyes at once settle on his reflection. She looked like she had millions of questions whirling in her head, and knowing Felicity Smoak, he wouldn't have been surprised if she tried to put all those questions into one sentence.

"Oliver…" But she only said his name.

That surprised him. The soft tone of her voice surprised him, "Hmmm?" He took a small step in her direction.

She turned around to face him as let out a breath. She was seemingly getting ready to pose her questions, maybe about their kiss at the museum, maybe about the way he almost kissed her a few minutes ago.

However, astoundingly she didn't ask a thing. She simply stared until she became aware of her own silence, and turned back to the dressing table.

She obviously wasn't prepared to discuss about anything that had happened between them over the course of last two days, and maybe it truly was for the best.

Silence stretched between them and he felt as though he had to say something, "So how are we going to do this?" His eyes traveled towards the bed.

She twirled around again, "Do what?" Her confused stare went from him to the bed as if he had made some other proposition.

"We both could share the bed or I could sleep on the floor," He looked at the bed covered with the fairly comfortable looking light pink sheets, and seemed far more inviting compared to the cold floor.

A little smile brightened her face, "Oh, the sleeping arrangements?"

He nodded, "I could go out the fire escape and come back tomorrow morning, but it would be too risky. So I guess I should sleep on the floor," It was safer he felt, safer than the bed for so many reasons. If not for her mother's intrusion earlier, he had almost crossed a boundary he probably shouldn't have and kissed his IT girl. He knew he was about to kiss her, just to clear his doubts, just to know whether there was anything more than platonic friendship there or not, just because her full lips looked so alluring to him at that moment. Yet what he hadn't thought of at that moment what would've become of them once he had kissed her and realized the truth. As the truth sometimes can be a bit too daunting, the truth could be that the kiss was just driven by hormones, and nothing more, the truth can destroy a friendship he had spent two years building. He wasn't about to lose Felicity Smoak just because of his hormones.

"Are you sure?" She asked as she took her earrings off and placed them on the dressing table before she came closer to him, "My mother specifically let us have this room, because she thought Oliver Queen wouldn't be comfortable in the small bed in the other room… Not that I think you should sleep with me... I don't mind sleeping with you... … I don't mean that kind of sleep… I mean sleep sleep!" She put her palms together, placed them on her right cheek, tilted her head to show him exactly what kind of sleep she was alluding to. "Then again, you sleeping on the floor will help us avoid lot of other complications too," She was mumbling to herself, and it took her a while to notice her last words may have been heard. She quickly began to rephrase, "Uh I… I hog the sheets, and you'd be cold…"

Oliver raised an eyebrow at the blonde and crept even closer. "Even though I wouldn't mind sleeping in the same bed with you and let you hog the sheets all you want. I think I will take the floor tonight." He was now towering over her and she was standing bare feet with her toes almost touching his shoes. She looked up at him, then down at where her toes met his shoes and looked right back up. "Since it's kind of my fault that we're in this mess, I think I should let you have the bed all to yourself. Anyway it is the gentlemanly thing to do." He summed up.

"Ah finally he admits that it's all his fault!" She pointed out, smilingly as he was about to walk away.

He flashed his most smug smile at her, the trade mark smile Oliver Queen the play boy was known for. "I said kind of! Most of it is actually your fault, Flissy!"

"How did you… when did you… My dad told you?" She huffed making one of her curls float up and fall back to her face.

"It's a nice name, It suits you," He tucked the hair back in its rightful place.

She blushed as her hand ran to the lock of hair he had just let go and began to stutter, "I… I better go change…" She turned around and ran to her bathroom, her feet softly padding against the floor.

Not a second later, with the same speed in which she disappeared into the bathroom, she came back out, "Forgot to take my clothes," She explained with a shy chuckle, not even looking at him.

He watched as she pulled some cloths out of her closet and set off again to the bathroom.

She had gone in such a rush and closed the door, it hadn't truly closed properly. There was a little crack from which Oliver could see her trying to reach the zipper on the back of her dress. She was so engrossed in the task she hadn't noticed that Oliver could actually see her.

He turned to the other side to stifle the dangerous and wonderful thoughts that had rushed into his head yet again.

Unfortunately, he could still hear her shift around in there. He could hear her low groans and hisses every time she failed to reach the zipper.

They were tempting him to turn around, tempting him to do things he was forcing himself not to.

He, with all the resolve he could muster, sat on the bed and started to unbutton his shirt, hoping that putting his mind at some other task would help him ignore the noises.

He only got through to the third button, he heard something fall and tumble heavily onto the tiled floor.

It seemed she had done something clumsy while trying to get a hand on the zipper. "I'm OK!" Felicity clarified.

He wanted to close the door, so that he wouldn't have to hear her dancing, most likely half nude, around in the bathroom. That thought bade his heart pound as blood rushed through his veins.

He slowly got up, thinking he would just discreetly close the door and get himself out of there. Unfortunately the mission had turned out to be more complicated than he had anticipated.

He learned that the closer he got to the door the more he wanted to push it open and go to her, and that's exactly what he had done.

He found her still in her gown, her hair disheveled. She began to stammer spotting him from the mirror in front of her, "O... Oliver? The door… it was…" Her hands lay frozen in midair, unsure what she was supposed to do with them.

He said nothing. He glided closer to her with a couple of more steps, and stood behind her. His gaze was fixed on her stunned reflection.

"What… what are you doing here?" She asked, her head turning a bit behind searching for him, searching where his hands were about to rest.

He moved her hair to the side, let it drape over her shoulder. He took the tiny, perfectly camouflaged zipper between his fingers. As he pulled the zipper down, beginning at the middle of her back and ending at the small of her back, his fingers grazed her soft skin that gradually unveiled.

He thought he heard her take in a quick, sharp breath as the zipper reached its end. He thought he caught the sight of her matching laced underwear peek through, and his mind raced to the moment when she threw away her cloths all over the lake.

She leaned back in to him, her silky hair tickling his face and chest.

His eyes caught their image in the mirror. She looked so innate to have her back rested against his chest, to have her so close to him, as if they belonged together.

His left hand instinctively grabbed onto her arm and as a result of the zipper being undone the strap of her dress, automatically slid off her shoulder. He took it as an invite and his head bowed down. His lips sought her bare shoulder as his other hand slowly glided up along her spine.

He could feel her body tremble and arch. He vaguely noticed her eyes slip closed anticipating his lips to make contact.

Yet, as his lips were about to touch her shoulder, her eyes jolted open and her body became stiff, as though she had realized the folly in what they were about to do. It seemed she didn't want the night to go this way. It seemed she didn't want them to go this way ever and she was probably right, he thought.

He needed to retreat and fast. He needed to artfully get out of there. He took a step back. Felicity who had been standing leaning to him nearly fell backwards.

"Don't get use to this Felicity, I won't always be here to help you get out of your shoes and dresses…" He put on a fake smile.

She steadied herself and spun about, "I never asked for your help!" She pushed him away with so much power and wrath he found himself to be standing outside the bathroom staring at her.

She pulled the fallen strap back over her shoulder. He hadn't ever seen her this mad ever, not at him, "And you shouldn't get used to this… this yourself!" She yelled. She may not have wanted to be very clear about it, but he knew what she meant. He knew she was referring to their fake relationship, he knew she meant that he shouldn't be getting used to having her as his fake lover, getting used to walking up to her bathroom whenever he desired.

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**A/N:** _**Thanks so much to all the lovely people who wanted to help me out and beta this story.**_** :)**

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**Fin, Guest,****Guest:** Sorry to keep you waiting for so long.

**shepweir always, ****VampireGleek77, LoneStar, heart0fgold****, HotHybridSex, Awesomepossum328:** Thanks for the lovely reviews. Hope you enjoyed this too!

**Heteroclite, CamJ:** Hope you liked how this chapter turned out :D. Thanks for the reviews

**SleazyforAnyWeasley,****darkheartrocker86, CQCRASH:** Thanks, I think I did OK on my exam.

**Guest, SamanthaFreita3, Abbie-As-Sue.29** : Hope you liked this part, and thanks for being patient.

**Virgyarca,****Emanuela,****JunJunyil, Lil5weetie, Ashira Storm, Scotsfangirl****:** They still in the same room together. So many things can happen ;) (or not)

**bluebell-uk, thekiller00, CQCRASH, iTand, SamanthaFreita3, Laura, Jean Deere, Dianitachiva****:** I'm so so so happy you liked Felicity's parents!

Thanks so much to everyone again.


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